Prefect Spartan
by john.walaszek1
Summary: During the Requiem Campaign, a Spartan was sent to test a Forerunner/Human hybrid armor, but when escaping Requiem, an event caused the Spartan and his Fireteam to be sent to an unknown place where they face unknown enemies and gain new allies in the process. There will be a pairing or pairings.
1. Prolouge

In the year 2557, after the defeat of the Didact, UNSC Infinity returns to Requiem to investigate the Forerunner Planet. There were a bunch of Spartan-IV Fireteams on UNSC Infinity, but the main two are Fireteams Crimson and Majestic. Fireteam Crimson is a four man squad and their squad leader is Spartan John Walker. Walker has been the UNSC's Top Spartan-IV, but his inspiration to join the Spartan-IV Program was because of the Master Chief, Humanity's Greatest Hero. During the Requiem Campaign, Walker and his squad did a lot of amazing things, even surviving the first encounter with the Prometheans, from what he read of the report. They recovered an Artifact that basically acted as a teleporter down to the planet. Walker and the rest of Fireteam Crimson were sent down to Requiem to hunt down Parg Vol, a Sangheili Terrorist and known associate of the Covenant Leader, Jul'Mdama. Although, he might've evaded their first and second hit, they found and killed the Sangheili Terrorist.

* * *

Walker and his Team were back on Infinity to prepare for their next mission until Commander Sarah Palmer walked in and said,

"Spartan Walker, The eggheads have something for you."

Walker followed the Commander to the labs where the scientists were finishing up on a new MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor. The Scientists noticed the Spartans as the head Scientist asked the Commander,

"Is this the Spartan that the Captain wanted?"

Palmer replied, "Walker happens to be one of the best Spartans on this ship. Captain Lasky requested that Walker tried out this experiment." Walker noticed a little sarcasm in her voice. Walker always knew that Commander Palmer never liked scientists, but they designed the armor, but in truth it was Dr. Halsey who designed it, but she was a scientist. When he knew that Halsey was onboard Infinity, he wanted to go speak with her about her…..methods for creating the Spartan-IIs like the Master Chief, but he had other matters that he had to deal with. The head Scientist asked Walker,

"Spartan Walker, you want to know why you are here."

Walker replied, "I was requested to come down here, because you have a new experimental armor."

The Scientist introduced the new armor, "This is the Prefect Armor, and it was first tested Denegroth on Europa. The Prefect Armor is a hybrid of Human and Forerunner technology from the Shield World which was formerly known as Onyx. Infinity received the schematics for the armor, and we build a set of the armor on this ship. But we needed a Spartan and the Captain requested you to use the Prefect Armor."

Walker finished, "And you want me to use it in combat on Requiem?" The Scientist nodded as Walker stepped into armor assembly systems as he was rotated around while the mechanisms place the pieces of the Prefect Armor on his undersuit. When he stopped rotating and he was wearing the Prefect Helmet, he looked at the armor that he was wearing and looked the pointy armored feet and said,

"This armor is pretty interesting."

The Scientist replied, "Don't mind about the helmet's visor. It still produces a traditional HUD like in the other helmets."

Commander Palmer complemented, "You look good, Walker." The Prefect Spartan replied, "Likewise, Ma'am."

* * *

Walker and Fireteam Crimson were sent down to Requiem to find Gabriel Thorne of Fireteam Majestic. But while they were waiting for extraction, their evac pelican was shot down and they were captured by the Covenant. Walker put the Prefect armor to good use when he and his team broke out and captured a Phantom along with Lieutenant TJ Murphy who became their pilot. After going on a bunch of incursions using the captured Phantom, Walker and his team discovered a bunch of HAVOK mines missing their warheads. Soon after that, they were recalled to return to Infinity to hold off a Storm Covenant Attack on the ship. After holding off the attack, Walker overheard a conversation between Captain Lasky and the bitch herself, Serin Osman. He read Osman's background and discovered that she was a Spartan-II Washout for failing the augmentations. Walker thought to himself,

"No wonder she hates Dr. Halsey." That name soon struck him when he realized that she was abducted by the Prometheans. After listening in on the conversation, Walker was shaking in his Prefect Armor to warn Fireteam Majestic.

* * *

Once he reached Fireteam Majestic, he explained what he heard during the conversation about Osman giving Lasky the order to eliminate Catherine Halsey. Majestic just listened to him and studied every single bit of information that Walker gave them. Spartan DeMarco asked,

"Are you sure that Admiral Osman gave a kill order on Dr. Halsey?"

Walker nodded, "I'm real sure about it. If the Master Chief got word of Admiral Osman ordering a kill on Halsey…..well, he might just have to kill Osman."

Spartan Grant asked, "So why did you come to us when you could've explained it to your fireteam?"

Walker shrugged, "Fireteam Crimson is already preparing for another mission down to Requiem. But I have an assignment for you, Majestic."

Spartan Thorne who just got back to Infinity asked, "What do you want us to do?"

Walker took out the kill order, "It's most likely that Commander Palmer would carry out killing Halsey. I want you guys to follow Commander Palmer, stop her and rescue Halsey from Jul' Mdama."

Spartan Anthony Madsen asked, "Why are you doing this?"

Walker replied before leaving, "I think that she helped Jul'Mdama because he had no knowledge of Forerunners choosing humans over his own race. But Glassman told me that Jul is after the area where the Chief encountered the Librarian. Jul is as blind as the loyalists were during the war."

* * *

Walker and his team went through their mission and rescued Fireteam Switchback which was captured by the Covenant in an attempt to disable a Covenant Harvester. After going through their missions, Walker and his team were now set on an emergency broadcast as Captain Lasky warned,

"All Spartan Teams, this is Captain Lasky. We have an emergency!"

Walker said, "This is Crimson, go ahead sir."

Lasky responded, "Jul'Mdama got away with Halsey and Requiem is on a collision course with the sun."

Walker said, "Roger, We're going to evacuate Requiem."

Commander Palmer butted over the comm, "Negative, Crimson! Infinity is anchored to Requiem by two artifacts that are in separate locations. Majestic and I are going after the one on our end."

Walker nodded, "My team will go after the other."

"Just don't let the Covenant kill you before I do for ordering Majestic to stop me behind my back." replied Palmer.

Walker shook his head to know that Palmer found out, so he ordered Crimson to return to the Harvester, only to discover that it's been disabled and it needs a new power core. Crimson went into another area where Crimson 2 salvaged a Power Core from a Covenant Lich. They returned to the Harvester, where Crimson 3 powered up the Harvester and destroyed an obstruction in their path. Crimson 4 took point while Walker took the rear and kept an eye out for Prometheans. When Crimson reached the artifact, they took what much time they had left, disabling and retrieving the artifact. Walker and his team loaded the artifact onto the Pelican and contacted Majestic,

"Crimson to Majestic, Status Report!"

Commander Palmer came on, "Walker, you disabled the artifact yet?"

Walker replied, "Yeah, we did…" He heard gunshots from both sides as both Covenant and Prometheans began firing on him. He also heard some gunshots on Palmer's end, he said as he ran for the Pelican,

"MOVE IT, MAJESTIC!"

He boarded the Pelican and was ready to be off of Requiem for good.

* * *

Lasky heard from Roland, the Ship's AI, that both Crimson and Majestic were on their way back to Infinity and time was nearly out as Requiem was dangerously close to the sun. Roland said,

"Sir, Crimson and Majestic are inbound for Infinity."

Lasky nodded, "Nice Job, let's hope they can get aboard." He heard a transmission between the two Pelicans. One was Walker's voice,

"Commander Palmer, That artifact we've loaded onto the Pelican is showing some activity that is different from the one we recovered before."

Palmer replied with sarcasm, "What seems to be the problem, John?"

Walker replied, "Sarah, its….its linking itself with my armor!" Crimson's Pelican vanishes into a Slipspace Rupture as Palmer yells,

"Crimson, come in. Crimson….Walker, are you there!?"

Thorne watched as the rupture disappeared, "Commander, we'll worry about them later, we need to get back to Infinity."

Majestic's Pelican reached Infinity as the ship entered a Slipspace when the artifact onboard Infinity tampered with the Ship's Forerunner engines therefore causing Roland to detect a Slipspace anomaly. As Palmer and Fireteam Majestic exited the Pelican, Palmer told DeMarco,

"Walker told you guys to stop me."

Spartan Grant responded, "Because unlike you, he doesn't trust Admiral Osman and judging by her history with Halsey, it was with good reason."

Spartan Thorne took out the first half of the Janus Key, "If Halsey was in line with Jul'Mdama, why would she give us this?"

* * *

Meanwhile on the Covenant's side, Jul'Mdama was furious about Halsey giving one half of the Janus Key to the Spartans as well as losing her arm, he said in human language,

"You've given the other half to your compatriots?"

Halsey replied, "Only to find out that my 'Compatriots' were a Firing Squad. But one managed to fire while the others did not."

Jul asked, "How come the others didn't kill you?"

Halsey smiled, "Spartan Commander John Walker, the only Spartan wearing the Prefect Armor. I suppose your men have reports of him and his team?"

The Shipmaster looked at the various reports of Fireteam Crimson and saw the Spartan that she was talking about. "This is this John Walker?"

Halsey nodded, "He is the UNSC's Top Spartan-IV all those commendations he earned in the past 4 years were because of his faith in my Spartan, John-117."

Jul sneered, "You created the Demons?"

Halsey calmly responded, "Now is not the time to talk about what I did."

Jul let it go for now and asked, "What do you propose?"

Halsey took the Janus Key and said, "The UNSC tried to execute me and I know who's responsible."

Jul asked, "What do you wish?"

Halsey replied, "Its simple, Jul. I want revenge on Admiral Serin Osman."


	2. That's a Greeting

Chapter 2: That's a Greeting

Commander Walker and Fireteam Crimson were in Slipspace which was impossible. Alex Grayson, Walker's number 2 responded,

"This is impossible for a drop ship to enter Slipspace!"

Walker contacted Lucy Davenport, his number 3 and Josh Tanner, his number 4, "Guys, what's the artifact is doing now?"

Davenport looked at it and its energy was soon reaching a high point until, "The Artifact's energy is fluctuating, we'll be out of Slipspace soon."

Tanner replied, "I'm surprised that the Pelican isn't falling apart and it's not usually rated for Slipspace."

Walker said, "Roger, guys." He contacted Lieutenant Murphy, "Murphy, we'll be out of Slipspace soon enough."

Murphy replied, "Good, Commander." The Pelican exited Slipspace and soon they came into contact with a massive object in their path. It had five massive arms, it sported a ring on the end that almost reminded each of them of the Halo Ring, Installation 03, and they noticed a fleet of unknown ships guarding the object. They saw how the ships were not moving to intercept them, Grayson said,

"Judging that the ships aren't heading for us, I guess they haven't spotted us yet."

Until Grayson spotted lights on the inside of the arms, it was strange until he saw buildings on each of the arms, he told Walker,

"Each of those arms have cities on them, this object is a Space Station."

Walker noted, "Too big to be a Space Station, but oh well." He told Murphy, "Lieutenant, take us in."

Murphy took the Pelican in proximity of one of the arms of the station; the Spartans saw a lot of stuff in the city while flying over it. Walker told Murphy,

"Murphy, we need someplace to land before we attract some unwanted attention."

Grayson looked used the Pelican's scanners as he soon spoke, "Commander, we've got a firefight going on near some sort of car port."

Walker knew that Grayson is an expert in tech, "What can you describe of this firefight?"

Grayson looked at the scanner's results and a picture of what he scanned, "It shows…..wait, that can't be right." He continued, "It shows Mercenary Elements trying to kill a human wear civilian attire."

Walker looked at the picture and showed the human male wearing civilian attire while carrying a silenced pistol, "Definitely human." He spotted a human's companion following him through the carport. He stared at the alien that is with the human and noticed that this alien female is wearing an environment suit, with two slits that showed the eyes. It was remarkably human except for the three digit hands and two digit feet. He asked Grayson,

"Anything on the mercenaries, that is chasing them?" Grayson looked at a picture of the two holding the line at the carport while the mercs are gunning for them. He saw these mercs sporting some unusual armor by UNSC standards. Grayson asked,

"What's your call sir? Should we move in to assist and kill the mercenaries?"

Walker felt that he was obligated provide assistance for both human and alien, "Murphy, take us over the carport, we're going to bring the noise."

Murphy replied, "Aye, Commander, Carport in sight."

Walker opened a comm to the cargo bay, "Davenport, Tanner, ready weapons, we're going outside in a few minutes."

Davenport replied, "Ready for action, Commander."

Tanner added, "I was getting bored of sitting around in this Pelican with nothing but Lucy and the Forerunner Artifact for company."

Grayson spoke, "I hope you guys checked your thrusters because we are dropping from the air."

Walker checked the Prefect's Thrusters, "Prefect, check!"

Grayson checked his Raider's Thrusters, "Raider, check!"

Davenport checked her MJOLNIR Mark V GEN2 thrusters, "Mark V, check!"

Tanner checked his ODST Spartan thrusters, "ODST, check!" Walker began weapons checks; he checked his trusty UNSC Assault Rifle and Forerunner Suppressor, "Check."

Grayson checked his Forerunner Lightrifle and Covenant Carbine, "Check."

Davenport had her SRS99 Sniper Rifle and her Forerunner Binary Rifle, "Check."

Tanner checked his Forerunner Scattershot and UNSC Battle Rifle, "Check and Ready to go."

Walker asked Murphy, "This bird is fitted for full combat pursuit?"

Murphy replied, "Of course, Commander. The Pelican is a stockpile of UNSC equipment on the sides."

* * *

Commander John Shepard was supposed to be on Shore Leave while the Normandy was receiving a retrofit at the Alliance Docks. After being given Admiral David Anderson's Apartment, as well as going through Anderson's history on the data pads until he got a message from Joker to meet him at a Sushi place at Silversun Strip, when he arrives, he meets Staff Analyst Maya Brooks and shortly after learning that someone hacked into his files, a group of mercs show up trying to kill him. He managed to obtain a Suppressed Pistol from a merc that got close to his cover and ordered Joker to go get the rest of the crew.

After the mishap in the restaurant and falling through a fish tank, he made his way to a carport with nothing but a suppressed pistol and ran into his lover, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. When they reached the carport, she asked a cowering Volus to open up the carport doors to allow a shuttle that the crew was using to come pick them up. That's when the mercs came in and started to fire on them. It was basically a fight to survive this onslaught until they saw one of the mercs take a shot through his chest by an orange light causing the merc to disintegrate before their eyes. They looked up near the open doorway and saw a strange looking dropship with its loading ramp down and saw two figures jump from the ramp, while two others jumped from the rear cockpit. As they descended, the figures were diving like it was a HALO Jump, but when they oriented themselves, thrusters burst from the back of their suits, slowing their descent as they landed on the platform. Shepard and Tali heard one of the new figures, the leader by the looks of him, say,

"Time to bring on the noise on these mercs, Spartans!" The remaining 'Spartans' went, "Hoorah!"

These soldiers went to work on disposing the mercs that decided to turn their guns on the new arrivals; one of the soldiers fired a strange orange glowing weapon on one of the mercs as the soldier filled him with holes. Another brought out, a glowing orange 'shotgun' and fired causing the merc to disintegrate on impact. The next soldier was firing an orange precision based weapon that sported deadly accuracy the orange light tore through the merc's kinetic barrier like it was nothing and another round blew the merc's head clean off. Shepard guessed that the first one who killed the merc was a sniper and if the sniper was that good, then Garrus might have some competition. The two now saw the leader of the soldiers hit his suit's thrusters as he jumped over a merc group while gunning them down….with actual bullets from a greyish silver assault rifle. The soldier gestured his squad to form up on him and they began to approach Shepard and Tali.

The soldiers were wearing combat hard suits that don't match any Alliance Standards. While the other soldiers' suits were bulky, the leader wore a smooth armor with a golden visor that could make him look like a Cyclops. The armor looks like that it was made by alien hands, but he didn't have time to think about it right now while there are still mercs around. The leader looked at Shepard and asked,

"Are you all right?" Shepard looked at the soldier's oddly shaped helmet and replied,

"Yeah, I'm fine. Although, I've been bounced around all day when this occurred; But Who are you guys, I don't recognize your armor from anywhere."

The Soldier introduced himself and saluted, "Spartan Commander John Walker of Fireteam Crimson."

The second soldier saluted, "Spartan Corporal Alex Grayson, Number 2 of Fireteam Crimson."

The third saluted with a female voice, "Spartan Sergeant Lucy Davenport, Number 3 of Fireteam Crimson."

The fourth saluted, "Spartan Major Josh Tanner, Number 4 of Fireteam Crimson."

Shepard introduced himself, "Lieutenant Commander John Shepard, Alliance Navy." He introduced Tali, "This is Admiral Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, a valued member of my crew." She nodded as the Spartans nodded until Walker asked, "Alliance Navy?"

A voice came on the radio and was directed to the Spartans, "Spartan Walker, I spotted a shuttle heading for the carport, probable Law Enforcement."

Walker replied, "Murphy, stand-by and keep the Pelican on station until we are ready for extraction. Keep an eye on that shuttle."

Shepard said, "That shuttle is where my crew will arrive in."

Walker ordered Murphy to stand-by while they head for the landing pad for the shuttle to pick them up. Once they reached the shuttle, it was revealed to be more of those mercs. Shepard, Tali and the Spartans got into cover as Grayson saw a window break and a massive alien in red armor landed on the merc shuttle with a heavy thud. This Alien's brute strength remind him too much of the Jiralhanae and judging by its sound and grunts, it's a male. This brute of an alien threw each merc out of the shuttle and over the side into the abyss below. The crippled shuttle landed on the platform, the Spartans noticed the alien approaching Shepard and shook his hand like they were old friends. The alien told them why he was here until he noticed the Spartans,

"Shepard, who are your new friends?"

Shepard replied, "Fireteam Crimson."

Tali added, "Don't worry, Wrex. They're with us."

Wrex replied, "Well, I guess we got four heavy hitters."

Murphy came on the comm, "Walker, I've detected a new shuttle inbound to the carport, I've scanned it this time and there are multiple IFFs, their Friendlies! I've also detected several merc reinforcements inbound on your location."

Walker thought this over and replied, "Murphy, pull the Pelican alongside the carport and open the side weapons doors. We need to re-arm before they get here."

At that exact moment, the Pelican lowered and landed near the carport, Murphy opened the side doors revealing UNSC weapons, when Murphy lowered the ramp revealing the artifact, there were Forerunner and Covenant Weapons emerging from it.

Walker swapped out his Suppressor with a Covenant Storm Rifle. Grayson swapped his Covenant Carbine for a Forerunner Boltshot. Davenport swapped out her SRS99 with a Covenant Beam Rifle. Tanner swapped his Battle Rifle for a UNSC Pistol. As Walker approached Shepard, he said,

"Those mercs must really want you dead. But if they really want you dead, they are going to have to get through us." He gave Shepard an M739 Light Machine Gun or SAW by most marines, "It's useful for situations like this."

Shepard replied, "Thanks." Wrex approached Walker and said, "Take this." He gave Walker a chaingun sort of weapon, "It's a Geth Spitfire, also useful in situations like this."

Spartan Grayson called Wrex over and gave the Krogan a Railgun, "Someone like you would like to go into battle with this weapon."

Wrex grasped the gun, "I'll put it to good use."

Spartan Davenport called Tali over to her and said, "You are meant for close range weaponry, so you are going to need this." She gave the Quarian a piece of the Scattershot as it assembled itself before her very eyes.

Tali asked, "This is a shotgun?"

Davenport nodded, "It's powerful, but be careful where you fire because it could ricochet off the walls."

As Tali took the Scattershot, she updated her Omni-Tool to create a program for the Scattershot to look for possible ways for a Scattershot's ricocheting ability to be put to good use. She soon joined up with Shepard, Wrex and the Spartans as they prepared themselves for the merc reinforcements. The mercs approached,

"There they are, blast them!" Wrex charged in with his Railgun as he fired a round at the squad, blowing them away in one shot. One of the mercs said,

"Watch out, they've got a Krogan!" That merc was soon cut down by Fireteam Crimson as Walker ordered, "Spartans, go to work until evac arrives. If any of you guys want to provide support with Murphy on the Pelican, climb aboard the side turrets."

Davenport spoke, "I'm on it, Commander." She hopped onto the Pelican's side turrets as Murphy took off and Davenport began providing support.

Shepard got into cover as Spartan Walker said, "Shepard, use the SAW to take out those mercs near those cars. I'll cover you." The Spartan got out of cover and fired his Spitfire at the mercs only to gain their attention; the mercs took the bait while Shepard popped out of cover and used the SAW to cut down the mercs as they were easily cut down by an array of high speed bullets.

Tali got into cover along with Spartan Tanner as he said, "Use the Scattershot on those mercs in that cover over there."

Tali pointed her Scattershot at the mercs who were stupid enough to raise their head. She used her Scattershot program and found a good ricocheting spot before using her combat drone to lure them out. Once they were out in the open, she fired the Scattershot causing multiple balls of light to hit their targets causing them to disintegrate into orange dust. Wrex caught sight of this and said,

"I've got to get me one of those."

Tali smiled under her helmet as her targets went down, "Got you,"

Spartan Tanner yelled, "Spartan Walker, there's another merc squad!"

Walker replied as he pulled out a blue orb while in cover while Shepard, "Got it covered!"

Shepard asked, "What the hell is that?"

Walker said, "Our little friend!" He activated the orb as he hurled it over to a Merc Sniper. As it latched onto the sniper, she screamed,

"Get it off! Get it off!"

Another Merc said, "It's stuck!"

A third merc yelled, "Then yank it off!" The orb exploded in a flash of blue light turning the merc squad into indiscriminately piles of meat.

Shepard asked, "What was that?"

Walker answered, "It's a Plasma Grenade. It sticks to infantry and it kills instantly. It's useful for a group of soldiers."

Spartan Davenport came on the comm, "The shuttle is arriving and thankfully it's not commandeered by those mercs."

Walker saw a C-sec shuttle that was piloted by Shepard's crew and said, "You heard the lady, everyone onto the shuttle, move!"

* * *

Once everyone was onboard the C-sec shuttle, Joker noticed the massive soldiers that are with Shepard and asked,

"Hey, Commander, who are the hulking soldiers?"

Shepard replied, "This is Fireteam Crimson, a group of Spartans. Although, I have a lot of questions for you four."

Walker sat down and said, "I guess it's time to spill the beans."

Shepard began asking, "What are you, exactly? What species are you?"

Walker answered, "Human, we are human."

Joker commented, "I don't recall humans being that tall."

Shepard asked another question, "What is a Spartan?"

Walker looked at his team until Davenport came on the shuttle's loudspeaker, "Spartans are genetically augmented super-soldiers, developed by Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey to put down human rebellions in the UNSC Outer Colonies."

Shepard asked, "What is the UNSC?"

Tanner spoke, "The UNSC or United Nations Space Command is the military, exploratory and scientific agency of the United Earth Government. The UNSC was formed in the year 2163 and continues on to this day. The product of Space Travel was developed by Tobias Shaw and Wallace Fujikawa in developing the Shaw-Fujikawa Trans light Engine for our starships. Once we were a Space-faring race, the UEG colonized 800 worlds and everything was great. Until the UN was fighting a bloody struggle against groups of terrorist or freedom fighters called 'Insurrectionists' that's when the Spartans came in to crush the Insurrectionists."

Shepard asked, "What year is it right now?"

Spartan Grayson spoke, "Last time we checked, it was the year 2557." Shepard thought to himself, '_Are these guys from the future?'_ He responded,

"But it's the year 2186. Although, your stories are interesting."

Grayson realized, "I don't think we are in a right time period, but a different dimension."

Walker nodded, "If the year is 2186, then the UNSC should be going strong."

Shepard nodded, "I guess you five are from a different dimension."

Walker nodded and asked, "So what's your story?"

Shepard began telling Fireteam Crimson his story, his personal history on how he was a Spacer kid, raised on one ship after another. He discovered his biotic powers, after explaining what biotics are to the Spartans, enlisted and saved the Alliance colony of Elysium during the Skyllian Blitz. He recalled how he encountered a Prothean Beacon that gave him the warning about the Reapers although no one believed him which disgusted the Spartans. Then he told them about his journeys while hunting down the Rogue Spectre Agent, Saren Arterius and blowing up half a dozen of the Heretic Geth. Then came with dealing with the Reaper Sovereign, he order the Alliance Fleet to save the Council and the Dreadnought, Destiny Ascension at all costs. After telling the Spartans on the first half of the story, he told them the part of how he died and was brought back to life by Cerberus, a pro-human organization. He told him the story all the way to the Destruction of the Alpha Relay. Shepard began telling the Spartans what happened after returning to Earth, he spoke of the Reaper Attack all the way down to the Shore Leave where they first meet. Spartan Walker commented,

"Even after all of your warnings, the Council refused to take action to prepare for the Reapers? If we were here earlier, we wouldn't let the Council sit on their asses all day and pretend that nothing has gone wrong."

Shepard replied, "Until hell shows up at their door."

Spartan Davenport spoke over the comm, "Hell showed up at our door in the year 2525 when the Covenant glassed Harvest."

Tali asked, "Covenant?"

Spartan Grayson spoke, "The Covenant was a collective empire who believed that humans are a blight on the galaxy because their Prophets lied to them because humans are the inheritors to the machines of their gods, the Forerunners."

Spartan Walker noted, "To be out in the open, the armor I'm wearing is actually a hybridization of Human and Forerunner engineering."

Tali said, "I bet Liara will be jumping about your armor."

Walker asked, "Who's Liara, and by the sound of that name it sounds very beautiful for a beautiful woman."

Tali replied, "Liara T'soni is an Asari Scientist who specializes in the Protheans and now we have the last one on our crew. But when she finds out about another advanced civilization and judging by your armor, she would be bouncing."

Lieutenant Murphy asked over the comm, "Why do I get the feeling that the Protheans and the Forerunners are similar?"

Walker replied, "Because they were both wiped out by a parasite, Murphy. Although, the Flood fought the Forerunners until the firing of the Halo Array wiping out all sentient life in the galaxy; the Librarian indexed our species for repopulation along with the Covenant Races. These Protheans were fighting parasitic machines that were hell bent on harvesting them to create more of these Reapers. But they didn't have a Halo Array."

Shepard asked, "Can your pilot follow us?"

Murphy replied, "Yeah, I can. I've flown a Phantom before, I can follow your shuttle to the rendezvous, and IFF tag was already placed on your shuttle." Murphy forgot something, "By the way, my name is Lieutenant TJ Murphy, UNSC Marine Corps."

* * *

As they left for the rendezvous, a speck of computerized dust that came from the Forerunner artifact began to form into something that would end up following Fireteam Crimson. Its computerized data began to shifting into an advanced combat AI that Crimson has faced dozens of times on Requiem. Once its body formed, it took a look around and spotted the Kodiak and the Pelican. It opened its face revealing its Orange mimetic skull; it started to sniff out something familiar. It was sniffing out Forerunner tech and its getting away from the creature. It screeched as it closed its face and teleported after the Kodiak and the Pelican.

**So this has been chapter two where Walker and Fireteam Crimson meet Commander Shepard and save him from a bunch of mercs.**

**Yes, I'm going through with the Citadel DLC. But it will be a while since my Xbox Hard drive got fried. Now I have to start all over again. But I assure you my fellow readers. I WILL GET THIS DONE!**

**You guys already know what's starting to hunt them. You guys stick around while I plan a Spartan's way of infiltrating a charity party.**


	3. That's some security for a Casino

Chapter 3: That's some security for a Casino

After the rescue at the Carport, Commander Shepard and Fireteam Crimson landed in Silversun Strip, the place where Shepard was ambushed. Shepard was going to open the shuttle door when he asked,

"How are you guys going to move about the strip?"

Spartan John Walker replied, "Our armor is equipped with an Active Camo module, we can cloak and follow you to your apartment."

Joker asked, "But what about your pilot and your 'Pelican' ship?"

They heard a knock from outside the shuttle as Murphy came on the comm, "I've put the Pelican on lockdown only to operate by me and the Spartans. As for me, I guess I can pass off as a normal marine, because I am a marine."

Spartan Walker nodded and said, "Spartans, time to disappear." All Spartans began to fade from existence, but that was a benefit of the Active Camo. Shepard told the Spartans,

"Follow me until we reach the apartment, the others are waiting."

The shuttle door opened to Lieutenant TJ Murphy, the guy who was flying the Pelican. He was just as they expected him to be, a marine with some flight experience. So Joker began to have a talk with Murphy,

"How did you end up being with these guys in your world?"

Murphy replied, "My squad and I were on a mission to the Shield World Requiem. We were on a mission until the Covenant or what's left of the former Covenant captured my squad. While we were guarded by Covenant troops and Promethean Crawlers, we heard fighting and multiple Covenant forces dying. That's when our Promethean guards fell to the onslaught, and when the dust settled, I see Commander Walker and Fireteam Crimson here to rescue us."

Joker asked, "What's a Promethean?"

Murphy replied, "A Promethean is an advanced combat Forerunner AI construct native to Requiem, similar to Forerunner Sentinels but those were just drones. Prometheans responded to the Didact, the Forerunner who has an axe to grind with our humanity."

Joker asked, "What did he do?"

Murphy replied, "The Didact brought his huge ship that was buried on Requiem to our Earth and fired a weapon called 'The Composer' at New Phoenix. He would've nearly succeeded in his so-called kindness to humanity, but then the Master Chief got aboard his ship carrying a HAVOC-Nuke. He defeated the Didact and destroyed his ship and the Composer in the process. But from what I heard, his AI companion, Cortana sacrificed herself so he could live."

Joker asked, "What type of Spartan was this Master Chief?"

Murphy remembered, "He's a Spartan-II, one of the original Spartans created by Dr. Halsey. Spartan Walker idolizes the Master Chief because of what he did to save our earth."

Tali overheard their conversation and asked, "Why would he mourn an AI?"

Murphy spoke, "Because Cortana has been the Chief's most trusted companion for eight years and she was at the end of her seven year cycle. The Chief told me about what he originally planned to do once he got a ride back to Earth.

Tali asked, "What were his plans"

Murphy finished, "He wanted to return to Earth, find Halsey because she made Cortana, and she could fix her. He trusts her as much as he trusts the members of Spartan Blue Team, his original Spartan unit."

Joker asked, "Is that possible?"

Murphy remembered, "Before the Chief and Cortana departed Infinity on a Pelican to go after the Didact, Cortana told me that she was created through living tissue; a Clone of Dr. Halsey."

Their conversation proceeded on and on while unaware that a Watcher was watching and seeing where they were going, but retreated with a risk of being spotted.

Fireteam Crimson was gathering data on the various species that passed by them while invisible. They noted several species that Shepard told them about. The Asari, who look like human females except they are blue, and have tentacle heads. Walker was informed that they are a mono-gendered species and reproduce through telepathy. Grayson noticed a few of the Turians who look like Sangheili but they have a more avian appearance instead of the saurian appearance that the Sangheili have. Davenport noticed a few of the Salarians who were mostly intelligent and bounce at the sight of new technology. She was also informed about the Salarian Special Tasks Group and knew that as fragile as they look on the outside, she was getting a feeling that she can't underestimate a Salarian if she fought one. Tanner was passing by a Hanar that makes him feel equally annoyed by it always referring to itself in third person. He would rather feel the tentacles of a Huragok fixing his armor than listen to a Hanar talk.

When they reached the elevator to Shepard's apartment, he said, "You guys can come out now."

The Spartans de-cloaked and were now on their way up to the apartment. Walker asked,

"So this leads to your apartment?"

Shepard replied, "This was originally Admiral Anderson's Apartment, but since he's fighting the Reapers back on Earth, he gave the apartment to me." He realized, "Speaking of apartments, three years ago, I won an Apartment on Inta'sei for beating Admiral Ahern's survival challenge. I haven't checked on it in the past three years."

Walker replied, "Maybe we'll see that it's still safe."

Shepard asked, "Are you asking to join us?"

Grayson spoke, "Why not, there are only five of us in our UNSC group, plus we've got that Pelican waiting outside."

Davenport stepped in, "You also mentioned that you're best friend is a good sniper. I would put my expertise on sniping to the limit against his."

Before Shepard made his decision, he asked Davenport, "What was that weapon you used to take out that merc?"

Davenport smiled as she brought out a piece of her sniper rifle and it assembled by itself, "This is my Binary Rifle, it was used by Promethean Knights, in fact I pried this one off a Knight Commander as he attempted to shoot Tanner. I took out his inner arms, grabbed his Watcher and used its Boltshot to kill every Promethean in my way. I kept the Binary Rifle to remind me of what happened."

Shepard decided, "Thanks for your story and once we're done with who tried to kill me, I could use Fireteam Crimson on the Normandy."

Walker let Davenport say, "Thank you, Commander."

Tanner pointed out from her story, "I would've been a pile of digitized dust if not for you."

Davenport turned to Tanner, "It was pure skill that made me yank the Knight away from you."

Shepard asked Walker, "Are those two always like this?

Walker stated, "Lucy and Josh were never intimate, she treats Josh like a brother. Sometimes she teases me about attempting to make a pass a Commander Sarah Palmer, but basically she wasn't my type."

Shepard asked, "What would you usually prefer?"

Walker shrugged, "Scientists, they are smart and I knew some scientists who took it upon themselves to wield guns to defend themselves."

Shepard realized, "Now I understand."

* * *

As they arrived at Shepard's Apartment, the Spartans looked around the place and noticed how peaceful it seems to be, while they were observing the apartment, they overheard Shepard talking about calling someone named, Bailey. That woman, Maya Brooks denied that because the mercs could target Bailey as well. Spartan Grayson went over and asked,

"How are these mercenaries involved? Even though we just got here?" Brooks explains about her program that she created to track officer IDs and frauds. After listening to the results, Walker went over and said,

"Someone is hacking into Shepard's records and files?"

Wrex butted in and said, "Since when does hacking involve heavy weaponry? No offense, but I like the Railgun."

Walker pointed out, "When we spotted you from our Pelican, you were holding that pistol. Where did you get it?"

Shepard pulled out the M-11 Suppressor, "I got it from a merc."

Wrex looked at the pistol, "I've never seen anything like it, but it packs a punch for something that small."

At that moment, the door opened which made Walker turn his head towards the door and what he saw nearly made his Prefect visor change color. He saw a holographic drone enter along with a beautiful Asari scientist; Walker had a feeling in his gut that this was Liara T'soni, but it was those ocean blue eyes that got to the Spartan. When he saw her eyes, he instantly got lost in them. But Walker saw the look on her face that she was surprised to find his Fireteam in the apartment.

Shepard realized this and said, "Liara, We forgot to mention about these five."

Liara asked, "Shepard, who are they?"

Tali walked over to the Asari, "This is Fireteam Crimson, they are Spartans and they are not from around here, as well as their pilot."

Walker snapped out of his love-struck trance and stepped in, "Dr. T'soni, I'm John Walker, Crimson's leader." He pointed to his squadmates, "That's Alex Grayson, Crimson 2, Lucy Davenport and Josh Tanner, 3 and 4." He pointed to Murphy, "That's Lieutenant TJ Murphy, Crimson's pilot."

Murphy nodded, "Ma'am."

The drone, Glyph appears, "I have been compiling files on the weapon and results should be momentarily."

Grayson crossed his arms, "My guess by the drones personality traits; it's a 'Dumb' AI."

Joker said, "Right, because our normal VIs have the same thing as your UNSC Dumb AIs."

Walker watched as Liara left for the other room as Davenport tapped him on the shoulder, "What?"

The sniper replied, "You like the scientist, John."

Walker asked, "What makes you say that?"

"I saw the way you looked at her, although our faces are obscured by the helmets. I read your head movements."

Walker helmet-palmed, "Lucy, you and your special trait."

The rest of Shepard's crew arrives as she spots the Turian Sniper that Shepard mentioned. She went over and introduced herself to Garrus Vakarian, even removing her Mark V helmet revealing her brown hair in a bun and green eyes to the Turian. While Walker went over to the bar in the living room, he noticed Shepard approaching him and said,

"Shepard, Tali told Liara that my team isn't from around here."

Shepard nodded, "With the mingling going on with your team, its certain she'll find out. Liara is good at listening to others while working."

Walker replied, "Nice."

Shepard noticed that he still had his Prefect helmet on, "Are you going to take off your helmet?"

Walker chuckled, "I've had it on long enough." With an instant, Walker pressed a button which caused his helmet to unseal as he removed the Prefect helmet. Shepard was in awe about this soldier, the Spartan's face was a bit Caucasian with his hair in a shortened length of brown. Walker's eyes were a mix blue color and had a scar running near his left eye. He could know about a ton of women who would complement on the Spartan's face.

Shepard said, "How long have you been wearing that helmet?"

Walker replied, "Since I first got it, it's been a part of me throughout the Requiem Campaign." Walker began to ask,

"So, what have you been doing since we got back?"

Shepard replied, "I talked to my Quarian Girlfriend, Tali, who wasn't happy with the damage I caused at the Sushi restaurant. That restaurant was an old memory from her pilgrimage, her rite of passage into adulthood."

Walker said, "Don't breathe the word of sushi to Tanner; he won't be able to control himself."

Shepard nodded, "Noted. I also saw Davenport talking with Garrus and she showed him that Binary Rifle and he commented saying, 'How come I don't have one of those?"

Walker chuckled, "I guess we'll be getting that question a lot, while we're here."

Shepard nodded, Keep a lookout."

Walker said, "Shepard, you know that four-eyed guy, Javik?"

Shepard asked, "Is there anything about Javik that's bothering you?"

Walker spoke, "Javik has the strength of a soldier, but his attitude suggested that his 'embodiment of vengeance' is urged to ending the Reapers forever."

Shepard looked at the two Spartans on the upper level along with the Prothean, the Turian and the Krogan, one Spartan has black hair, brown eyes and dark skin as he replied,

"He's….always been like that. If there is any chance we might get him to lighten up, he might be open a little."

Shepard got up from the bar and went over to where Murphy is, as the Marine was chatting with Joker and Lieutenant Steve Cortez, Cortez commented,

"You stole an alien gunship back in your world?"

Murphy replied, "With Crimson's help, of course. It's because of the Spartans that we've made it this far."

Joker asked, "How did you end up flying a Pelican?" Murphy answered, "There was an attack on UNSC Infinity and we had to return to Infinity. We got hit and crashed into Infinity's hanger on landing. I was lucky to have survived. After the attack was repelled, I was assigned as Crimson's pilot and was given a Pelican, fitted for full combat pursuit." Murphy noticed Shepard,

"I take you had a talk with Romeo in the other room."

Shepard nodded, "I did, and maybe after this is over, we can finally get the shore leave that we deserve." He looked at Walker in the living room and at Liara checking on the results of Glyph's scans,

"And he might just explain his Forerunner Hybrid armor to Liara."

Spartan Tanner was sitting on a chair, helmetless revealing his dirty-blonde hair with green eyes and light skin,

"The Commander was always into female scientists, alien types to be precise."

Shepard nodded to Tanner's comment about Walker's interests; he couldn't blame any of them either. He went to talk to Liara about the results of the M-11 Suppressor, and she said that she had something. She called in a few favors and her findings lead to a casino owner named, Elijah Khan and was suspected of using his money to smuggle weapons onto the Citadel. Walker came in holding his Prefect helmet at his side saying,

"So, we're tracking down a Smuggler and a Casino owner?"

Liara replied to the Spartan, "Yes and there was an interesting call from the buyer to Khan after the failed assassination. The buyer even mentioned the mercs that survived have mentioned your Spartan team."

Shepard spoke, "We have our ID Thief and a possible lead, and we have to get to Khan."

Tanner showed up about say it in a more dramatic way until Walker said, "Say it and you will be waiting with the artifact on the Pelican!"

Liara asked, "Artifact?"

Tanner spoke, "That's for later; let's focus on who these mercenaries are."

Liara apologized and said, "They come from an organization called 'CAT6' its slang for soldiers who were dishonorably discharged from the Systems Alliance."

Grayson joined, "Right, this universe's term for the UNSC, and I guess these CAT6 Mercenaries strongly hate the Alliance."

Walker told his number 2, "One problem at a time." He turned to the others, "How do we get to Khan?"

They explained how Khan has a panic room in the back of the Silver Coast Casino, but it was guarded by security cameras. It wasn't going to be an easy swing by and question Khan. Liara came up with a plan to infiltrate the casino and question Khan about the gun's buyer. Shepard decided to have a small team where there will be no gunplay, and to focus solely on stealth. Walker said,

"My Spartans and I can use our Active Camo modules, to infiltrate the Casino. We'll be in a secluded area, but if we see any guards, we'll deal with them. Non-lethal takedowns only."

Glyph informs the team, "They are using the Casino for a charity event for War Refugees." Glyph put Shepard and a plus one forward.

Liara looked at the event, "There is one problem." Shepard asked, "And that is?"

Liara finished, "Black tie required." Tanner muttered, "Damn it."

* * *

Meanwhile at the Silver Coast Casino, the Promethean saw the results from his Watcher saying that five reclaimers are in this new universe. Although he could still hear the Didact's voice, the Forerunner's control over him ceased after the Reclaimer wearing the advanced Combat Skin killed him near the artifact. The Promethean Knight was standing in the shadows gazing at what looked like some sort of event. The Knight went through his memory and found out through various sources that it's a charity event for war refugees. The Knight noticed a couple of humans, but none matches Reclaimer status, as well as a few new species that he found. The Knight wanted to send out a Watcher, but there are guards all over the place. If they spot the Watcher, they would report suspicious activity and he would have to recall the Watcher. The Knight decided to have another crazy idea; he had to time his movement with the nearby guard to get into position.

As the guard leaves, the Knight got into a position that the guard used to be in and froze completely as the guard returned,

"That's funny; I don't remember Mr. Khan having a statue in the casino. Although it might look a little….intimidating, and it looks big."

The guard thought about for a second and decided to just dismiss the Knight as a Statue and stood by it. The Knight used his Promethean Vision to see things that others cannot, and he spotted four Reclaimer signatures walking around the casino. The Knight turned off his Promethean vision and saw that the Reclaimers were using Active Camo to get through undetected, while accompanied by a group of three, two humans, male and female and a female alien with the same environment suit that his Watcher spotted with the fifth Reclaimer earlier. That's when he noticed the group approaching him and he acted like a normal statue, even cutting off his eye lights. He heard the male human ask the guard near him,

"Excuse me, I noticed this statue next to you. Is there anything important about this statue?"

The guard replied, "I don't remember seeing this statue, but I get the feeling that it might be alive."

The Promethean heard the female in the environment suit whisper, "Shepard, this statue has the same description of one of the Prometheans that the Spartans and their pilot were talking about."

The Knight was surprised that the Reclaimers told them about the other Prometheans. He was curious about why they were in the casino with four cloaked Reclaimers. So he decided to launch a Stealth Watcher equipped with Active Camo and Promethean Vision. After they left and the guard left his post, the Knight crouched as his back opened up revealing a Watcher that sported a blue glow to it. The Promethean realized this when he looked at his reflection on the reflective floor, his orange blazing eyes turned into a calm hue of blue, like he was when the Librarian calmed the Promethean's anger.

The Watcher cloaked and activated Promethean Vision to follow the group that approached the Knight. It deactivated Promethean Vision and found the group by a grate on the upper level, it noticed that one of them is going to enter the grate and disable security, but the only setback is that the grate is rigged with an alarm. The Watcher de-cloaked and fired a blue beam at the grate catching the group's attention as Spartan Walker de-cloaked. Shepard asked,

"What is that?"

Walker recognized it, "That's a Promethean Watcher; it's used by the Knights to serve as combat engineers. They revive fallen knights, set up turrets, redirect thrown grenades, and place a Hard-Light shield to protect any Knights or Crawlers. But this one seems friendlier than the ones the four of us fought before."

Brooks looked at the Promethean, "What is it doing?"

Grayson de-cloaked, "It's scanning the alarm grate and looking for a way to disable it. Watchers are capable of scanning a priority objective and finding solutions."

The Watcher's rings folded into vertical position in the back of the Promethean as it cloaked and flew to the other side of the upper level. After a few seconds, Brooks scanned the grate with her omni-tool and discovered that the alarm is offline,

"I guess our little friend helped us out."

Davenport said over the comm as Walker and Grayson cloaked, _"A lone Promethean Watcher helping us out? That's unheard of before."_

Shepard contacted Liara, "Liara, infiltration is proceeding as planned, but we ran into an old friend of the Spartans."

Liara asked, _"What old friend are you talking about?"_

Shepard replied, "We were assisted by a Promethean Watcher as the Spartans called it. It has the ability to cloak itself; it scanned the grate and found a junction box to shut off the alarm."

Liara was shocked, _"So, it's helping you get to Khan."_ She now contacted the Spartans, _"Spartans, see you can find the Watcher to know what it's doing."_

Walker replied, _"Roger that, Liara. Crimson going to observation position."_

The Watcher ascended as it watched the woman in the blue dress crawl into the vent. It kept its sights on the human and the alien that the data received from the Knight a few seconds ago called it a 'Quarian.' The Watcher hacked into communications between the two and woman in the vent as it scanned it and noticed pressure pads inside the shaft and there are junction boxes to shut them down. Thanks to its Active Camo, it was able to deactivate the junction boxes without attracting any attention before the woman in the shaft encounters the pressure pads. The Watcher heard communications between Shepard and Brooks saying that there's a guard beneath her. The Watcher watched as Shepard approached the guard and said that there is a Red Sand user in the bathroom, the guard moves to confront the situation. The Watcher saw as its Knight Companion teleported out of the casino while the guard was not looking. The Watcher heard Brooks over the comm saying,

"_Shepard, I'm noticing some pressure pads, but they seem to be offline."_

Shepard replied, "I guess that Watcher is watching over us."

Tali looked over by that wall where they saw the statue, "Shepard, That statue we saw earlier disappeared."

EDI, the AI came on the comm, _"Shepard, I have detected some abnormalities when you saw that statue. If my calculations are correct, as well as the Spartans encounters, the statue is actually a Promethean."_

Tanner spoke, _"Oh, great, now our day is complete."_

Walker told Tanner, _"Remember that Watcher we saw earlier?"_

Tanner explained, _"A Watcher is enough, but a freaking Knight is another. I've seen enough of those Knights on Requiem, one even tried to kill me!"_

Davenport spoke, _"Maybe this Knight is different."_

Grayson added, _"If the Knight was hostile, then its Watcher would've killed us when it saw us."_

Brooks came on the comm saying that she reached the panic room, but she missed one of the security measures and a guard is heading to her position, Shepard ordered,

"Spartans, knock the guard out nice and quietly."

Walker and Fireteam Crimson moved towards the guard as he was approaching Brooks' position. Walker noticed two guards in the room and Walker ordered,

"_Davenport, Tanner, knock out those two guards in that room, so we won't raise the alarm." _Two green lights winked as Davenport and Tanner moved into the other room. Walker synchronized the time to strike with the other two Spartans to take out the three guards as Grayson moved in to deactivate the camera. Walker counted down,

"_3, 2, 1, Now!"_ Grayson deactivated the camera as Walker, Davenport and Tanner had all three guards in a choke hold until they passed out. The Spartans placed the unconscious guards on a nearby couch to look like they were sitting down. They also noticed the Watcher de-cloak and deactivate the last camera. Walker and his team de-cloaked and contacted Brooks,

"Crimson to Brooks, all clear, I repeat, all clear."

Brook replied, _"Thanks, Spartans. You bought me some time to hack the door."_

Shepard and Tali looked at the unconscious guards as Shepard spoke, "Nice work, Spartans." They saw the Watcher disappear and leave the Casino as they progressed to Khan's office to question him.

When they entered Khan's office, the Spartans de-cloaked as Shepard said,

"Khan, you and me are going to have a talk." Walker went over to Khan's desk and said, "Commander…" He turned the chair around, "CAT6 got to him first."

Tali folded her arms, "Well, this is inconvenient."

Brooks looked at Khan's terminal, "Commander, there's a deletion order on the terminal."

Tanner spoke, "Well, we lost our only leads to the ID Thief."

Brooks said, "I don't know if it was him or the killer…when I tripped that alarm, did I screw this up?" She noticed Shepard going through the terminal, "What are you looking for?"

Shepard replied, "Mistakes." He noticed a saved comm file, "Whoever did this had to do it fast. They wiped the terminal, but there is a saved comm file."

Grayson felt signs of a Watcher being in here, "Commander, I think that our 'little friend' came in here through the ducts, found Khan dead and saved a comm file for us."

Shepard replied, "Since it helped us, I'm beginning to trust it."

Brooks realized, "So we can take the comm that the Watcher saved, back to the safehouse and scan it or…"

The screen behind them turned on to reveal a fuzzy image of a mysterious figure, Walker turned around,

"Commander…" Shepard turned around and saw the mysterious figure as it said, _"Elijah come crawling back?"_

Shepard replied, "Guess again."

The Mysterious Figure noticed, _"You? I see you've recovered from flopping on the floor like a fish." _He noticed the Spartans, _"And I see that the mysterious soldiers are with you as well."_

Shepard spoke, "You have to try better than that. The last guy who tried to trash-talk me was a few kilometers taller."

The figure replied, _"Brave, not as much, but it won't matter. You have nothing; all you can do is wait for the hammer to fall."_

Walker stepped in, "Are you that serious?"

The figure said, _"What?"_

Walker continued, "You say that Shepard has nothing and tell him to wait for the hammer to fall on him?"

Grayson stepped in, "The Commander has something, he has a strong crew, a strong ship and he has us."

Davenport added, "And look at yourself, you steal Shepard's Identity and order a hit on him so you can steal his life? Not happening on our account!"

Tanner finished, "I hope you watch your surroundings, because Spartan Fireteam Crimson will be all over you when we find you!"

Shepard looked at how the Spartans intimidated the Mysterious Figure and asked, "Why are you doing this?"

The Figure ended his transmission saying, _"I'm going to take everything you have and everything you are. As for your Spartans, I would personally see them dead."_

Walker replied, "Try us, Coward!" The figure cut transmission before Brooks could trace the call. Shepard spoke,

"Spartan Grayson, Pull out the data drives that the Watcher left us."

Grayson grabbed the data drives and handed them to Shepard as Brooks asked, "You think we can find something?"

Shepard replied, "With EDI anything is possible."

Walker added, "We should also find out why there was a Promethean Knight here, and why did the Watcher help us rather than attack us."

**So that's chapter 3, and there is the presence of a Promethean Knight in this story. **

**Why did the Watcher help the squad rather than attack them? Well, we'll find out later.**

**Next up is the assault on the archives as well as Teams Mako and Hammerhead get a first glance on how a Promethean Knight fights.**


	4. Knighttime and Spartan Time

**I was busy reconstructing my Mass Effect 2 data until I ended with Arrival. I'm starting to reconstruct Mass Effect 3 (finally) my memories with the Citadel DLC came back to me after a few plays on Multiplayer and a brief moment on the Campaign. (I also needed a Halo 4 break after Mass Effect 2)**

**So in this chapter, it's the aftermath of the previous mission and the histories of the Spartans Universe. Soon after that, it would be a battle in the Citadel Archives and the Promethean Knight joins the party.**

Chapter 4 Knighttime and Spartan Time

After the infiltration of the Casino and the unexpected death of their only lead, Commander Shepard and Fireteam Crimson returned to the apartment to have EDI scan the data drives that the Promethean Watcher left behind. As they re-entered the apartment, the four Spartans de-cloaked as Tali commented,

"That was fun, except for the murder."

Spartan Walker turned to the Quarian, "There was also the Promethean Knight and Watcher that assisted us."

Spartan Davenport spoke, "The Knight that helped us rather than killing us."

Shepard stepped in, "You told us about this Knight and the statue had a very good description."

Spartan Tanner pulled out a holographic display of a Promethean Knight and Watcher, "We sometimes see them either side by side or on their own. And we've never seen a Watcher with a color of blue before."

Spartan Grayson looked at the data drives and the display and replied, "Let's hope that what the Watcher left behind is solid." He went to give the drives to EDI as the others went to pass the time talking to each other.

Walker removed his helmet and sat on a nearby couch as he noticed Liara approaching him, he guessed, "You want to know about the artifact I mentioned?"

Liara replied as she sat next to him, "Yes, the artifact you mentioned before, what is it?" The Spartan looked at the Asari, "The artifact we have with us came from the Forerunner Shield World, Requiem back in our universe, and it was used as a Slipspace anchor for our ship, UNSC Infinity."

Liara replied, "And it brought you here?"

Walker nodded as he spoke, "The Artifact was in our Pelican as we were returning to Infinity to escape Requiem as it was hurling towards the sun. The Artifact had an energy reading that merged with my suit causing a Slipspace rupture that sent our Pelican to the Citadel and us along with it."

Liara asked, "The armor you possess, it looks more advanced than any others, even than ancient Prothean armors I found at dig sites."

Walker described his armor, "It's called the 'Prefect' armor, a hybrid of both human and Forerunner technologies, designed with a special shielding system that surpasses the Kinetic Barriers of this universe. It's equipped with a permanent Overshield system that covers my golden Plasma Shielding system, a Hard-light shield that I could use in battle, Promethean Vision that makes me see what others can't, and a built-in thruster pack to slow my fall."

Liara asked, "Did the Forerunners build a similar armor?"

Walker smiled, "They did, and they call it a Combat Skin." The Spartan told the Asari scientist about the Forerunners, what they are, their belief in 'The Mantle of Responsibility' and the two most notable Forerunners that they know of.

"The Didact is the Commander of the Forerunner Military and he hates humans because of what my people did, a hundred thousand years ago in my universe."

Liara asked, "What did the humans do, a hundred thousand years ago?"

Walker took a deep breath, "The advanced ancient humans spread across the stars in a desperate violence until the Didact's Warrior-Servants as I could tell from the terminals that was shown by the Master Chief, were the original Prometheans, rose up to halt the aggression. When he exhausted the humans, he stripped them of being an advanced species causing them to start over."

Liara asked, "He…..dissolved all technology from the humans?"

Walker nodded, "When he discovered from his wife, The Librarian that the humans were running from a parasitic lifeform called 'The Flood' The Didact said that Humanity took the Mantle of Responsibility into their own hands and now the Forerunners had to deal with this parasite."

Liara asked, "The Librarian, who is she?"

Walker pondered his memory from those videos, "The Librarian is a Forerunner Lifeshaper and Wife of the Didact. She was more compassionate about Humanity after seeing them at peace on Omega Halo; she wanted Humanity to rise again better than before. She and the other Forerunners had plans to stop the Flood which would lead to the ultimate sacrifice."

The scientist asked curiously, "What were they planning?"

The Spartan answered, "They were planning the Halo Array, seven ring installations that would simultaneously fire, wiping out the Flood as well as all sentient life in the galaxy." The Asari was shocked at such a terrifying weapon until the Spartan calmed her down by saying, "But the Librarian was already thinking ahead to save the other species of the galaxy. She indexed every species, Human, Sangheili, all those beings in my home galaxy were indexed for repopulation."

Liara calmed down and asked, "Did her husband agree to this plan?"

Walker answered, "Her husband had other plans on how to deal with the Flood. He experimented on himself to gain immunity from Flood Infection which ended in failure. One of the Prometheans recommended using the Composer, a weapon that bridges the Organic and Digital realms that would've made the Forerunners immortal. Although it did not work on his new form, He used the Composer on his Promethean Warrior-Servants to turn them into Promethean Knights because the Flood only infected living organic tissue."

Liara was shocked about the Composer, "The Composer turns organics into AI constructs?" The Spartan nodded knowing that the weapon would catch anyone of this universe by surprise, "The Composer turned the Didact's Warrior-Servants into Knights for his army to fight the Flood. But they lacked in moral values and the Didact needed more Knights for his army. So he chose to kill two birds in one stone. He would punish Humanity for their crimes during the Forerunner-Human War and encrypt the entire Human Population on Omega Halo to defeat the Flood."

Liara asked in a shocked tone, "He killed a Human population on one of the rings. Didn't the Librarian stop him?"

Walker replied, "The Librarian was furious at what her husband was doing, she ordered her Lifeworkers to get the other humans to safety while she goes to stop her husband's madness. She journeyed to his ship and incapacitated the Didact using a Binary Rifle which she set to stun. After stopping her husband's madness, she wanted the Didact to know that their time as the Galaxy's caretakers has come to an end, she removed the Composer from the Didact's care, hid it on Halo Installation 03 as for her husband, she imprisoned him on Requiem in meditation. She would hope that when her husband awakes, he would find the humans and help them learn from their mistakes as well as the humans teaching the Didact. As for his Knights, she calmed them down and ceased the Didact's control over them. In the days to come, the Halos fired, wiping out the Flood as well as all sentient life in the Galaxy. The Indexes opened up and my home galaxy breathed and grew with life as the galaxy rebuilt itself. The Forerunners paid the Ultimate Sacrifice to save the Galaxy."

Liara was amazed at such a story that the Spartan-IV has told her. A similar race to the Protheans and how they were wiped out by a parasitic lifeform, but the Protheans were wiped out by the Reapers as the Spartan compared them as a giant mechanical version of the Flood, the Prothean Expert saw the similarities.

The other Spartans were chatting about what happened at the party. James Vega said to Spartan Josh Tanner,

"Damn, a party is just some military operation to you Spartans."

Tanner replied to the Lieutenant, "We were trained to be the best when we were marines."

James asked, "How do you guys become Spartans?" Tanner shrugged, "We were augmented to wear this armor."

He said in surprise, "Wait, Augmented? As in…you guys are genetically modified?"

The Spartan answered, "We are genetically modified to wear this armor. If an unaugmented person wore it, the armor would crush the wearer to critically injured or death. If an augmented person wore this armor, the wearer would be able to withstand its effects."

James asked, "What is special about it?"

Tanner replied, "It's called the MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor, it's a battle suit that only Spartans wear to increase their strength and agility."

James asked, "How often were Spartans created because I want to know if your UNSC requires these Super-Soldiers, Loco."

Tanner recalled the history of the SPARTAN-II Program and the SPARTAN-III Program to James as he learned about the Super-Soldiers that were created as a major role and the Super-Soldiers that were meant to be expendable. Then Tanner told James about the SPARTAN-IV Program and how different that it was to the IIs and the IIIs. James asked,

"They used children to become Super-Soldiers in the SPARTAN-II and SPARTAN-III Program?"

Tanner nodded and said, "And the parents never knew about their child's abduction, because the abducted child was replaced by a Flash Clone that is set to die in a few months."

James spoke, "They even have cloning in your universe? This Office of Naval Intelligence is sneaky."

Tanner finished, "And a single Spartan-II managed to defeat the Covenant."

James remembered, "Right, this Master Chief guy, your Commander was talking about. He was one of those Spartan abductees, right?" The Spartan-IV nodded as James finished, "You guys really are Super-Soldiers. By the way, is there any chow around here?"

Spartan Grayson went over to Urdnot Wrex as the Krogan asked, "Why didn't I go with you guys? Didn't have an extra Camo module for me?"

Grayson replied, "It would be more of a stealth mission when we don't have something big to run into people while invisible. It would give us away too easily and we would have to battle the guards."

Wrex folded his arms, "You're a strategist?" The Spartan nodded, "I'm a strategist, Tech Expert and Commander Walker's closest friend."

The Krogan spoke, "But the three of you fought three guards while you disabled the camera."

Grayson stated, "Walker, Davenport and Tanner knocked out the three guards silently as I disabled the camera. I saw that Watcher disable the other camera after I disabled the first one."

Wrex realized, "You Spartans are starting to get concerned about this Promethean's presence."

Grayson replied, "I know, it's just that the Prometheans are hostile, but this one isn't and its Watcher didn't attack us. But it somehow followed us here."

Wrex spoke, "I looked at the Knight's size when EDI reported it. I have to say, these Knights are about the size of my people maybe even larger."

Grayson nodded, "They are larger than Spartan-IIs and when the Knights die, they disintegrate like the impact of a Scattershot or Binary Rifle. But if they die from any weapon, they disintegrate."

Wrex remembered, "Scattershot, that shotgun that Tali had?"

Grayson brought a piece of the gun and gave it to Wrex, "Wait a moment…" The gun assembled by itself. Grayson warned, "But don't fire it inside the apartment, I bet Commander Shepard won't like it."

Wrex looked at Grayson, "I know Shepard too well to know that he wouldn't like a firefight in his own apartment."

Grayson shifted his focus on the Knight's presence, "All in all, the Knight did help us. This would make it a potential ally with its fighting skills and its Watcher's assistance."

Javik walked up to the Spartan and the Krogan and said, "Whether the Knight helped you or not, it is still considered to be a machine. I would shoot it if I was there."

Grayson looked at the Prothean, "Many Forerunner AIs went rampant after a hundred thousand years, but unlike the other Knights. The one we encountered had a blue glow to it rather than orange. The UNSC even developed AIs to help coordinate with the ship captains in combat, Spartans have a neural interface that allows a Shipboard AI to coordinate with the Spartan. No one can call us 'primitive' if we mastered a way to create our AIs."

Javik responded, "You may be from another universe, human. But don't question what I am saying; you haven't seen what my kind faced before the Reapers came. We feared machine intelligence surpassing us until the Reapers arrived. That's when we found out that machines surpassed us long ago."

Grayson replied comparing the Reapers to the Flood, "Your kind fought the Reapers, but failed to stop the parasitic machines."

Javik smiled at the Spartan's description of the Reapers, "You are right, the Reapers are parasitic."

Lieutenant TJ Murphy was sitting in the other room at the bar with Steve Cortez as he asked,

"What's your history in this universe, Steve?"

Cortez replied, "Well, I started service with the Alliance about ten years ago. I was stationed on the Carrier SSV Hawking, flying F-61 Tridents. After the Hawking, I was stationed on the colony, Ferris Fields. I had a husband when I was stationed there."

Murphy stated after Cortez mentioned his husband, "Same-sex marriages, you can't deny any kind of discrimination. What happened to your husband?"

Cortez replied, "Died in a Collector attack a year ago. Robert contacted me when I was working at a small complex outside of the main colony. He got out of the field the Collectors put up and told me to move on. Then the Reaper attack hits and I start thinking about him again. But Shepard, being my friend, he helped me move on at last."

Murphy realized, "Your loss is similar to mine, Steve."

Cortez asked, "How so?"

Murphy replied, "Equally similar." He began, "When I was a marine going into pilot training at a UNSC Military Academy, I was married; my wife was one of the Flight Instructors. She taught me the simulations of the Covenant craft, like the Banshee fighters and the Phantom dropships. I was taught the simulations of the every UNSC aircraft and Space craft that the UNSC has. These were the happiest days of my life from training to all the times I spent with her." His face turned to a frown, "Then one day, Melissa was going through my final evaluation when a Covenant carrier emerged from the clouds. It launched its fighters and dropships as I ran to a nearby Longsword Fighter. I took off to intercept the Covenant dropships before they could unload their troops. Melissa was in another Longsword when I took off, when she took off, I noticed a Covenant Seraph Fighter moving to intercept. I shot down the Seraph before it took her down, but further on during the mission, a Seraph fighter caught us by surprise as we banked away from it. The Seraph fired its Fuel Rod Cannons at Melissa and shot her down. I saw her trying to level her bird to do a belly landing, but she….said that she lost control. Before she crashed, she said, 'TJ, I'm not going to make it. I love you, TJ; I don't want you to mourn me for the rest of your life.' She crashed with the nose almost straight; I shouted her name out as loud as I could. After Orbital Defense managed to take out the Carrier, I went to my wife's crash site and sifted through the wreckage, hoping to see if she would be alive. When I found her body, I clutched it in my arms as I burst into tears and now wanted to kill those Covenant bastards. I brought Melissa's body back to Earth for a proper funeral after finding out that she approved my final evaluation before that Supercarrier showed up."

Cortez said, "That's hard for you to go through something like that. The Covenant killing your wife, it's something that scars you. Just like when the Collectors took Robert."

Murphy looked at the Alliance Pilot, "We were in a three-decade war and I thought I could've had a normal life during the war. But there was no way that could happen when the Covenant were at our throats."

Cortez replied, "Sometimes the only family we have is what command we are assigned to. I fly shuttles under Shepard's command and you've got your Pelican and the Spartans with you."

Murphy realized, "For us pilots, Shepard and his crew are your family, while the Spartans are my family."

Cortez replied, "Joker is basically the best helmsman flying the Normandy."

Murphy chuckled, "He's a helmsman, that's for sure. But I could strap him into the Pelican to see how he flies it."

Cortez asked, "What does the Pelican look like?" Murphy pulled up a recording from his helmet cam and showed the Pelican parked in a skycar parking lot, "This is the Pelican, fitted for full-combat pursuit. It has a chain gun as its primary, a mounted Spartan Laser as it's secondary, both are mounted in the front for me to use. The turret is used to repel enemy fighters from reaching us as well as two side turrets that disband enemy infantry. It's also able to carry troops and vehicles into combat zones."

Cortez looked at the picture and said, "And its size is how it's named, right?"

Murphy shrugged, "Something like that."

Cortez laughed, "Coming from a brother in arms." The Pilot and the Marine/Pilot fist bumped.

Finally the results of EDI's scans are in; Shepard called everyone including the Spartans and their Marine/Pilot to the meeting room. After everyone gathered, EDI said,

"Thought the data's route structure was erased, the logic integrity remains viable because of the Promethean Watcher."

Brooks spoke, "EDI has an incredible talent for this stuff and that Watcher we encountered as well, I know they are both AIs, still. We found an encrypted communication from a few days ago. We need another minute to crack it"

Joker asked, "A whole minute? EDI can shave that down to five seconds."

Spartan Grayson replied, "A Watcher can do that in the same time."

Joker turned to the Spartan; well he had to look up, "The Watcher was an unexpected encounter."

EDI turned to the two, "I thought it best to allow Staff Analyst Brooks the chance to improve her decryption skills."

Joker said, "And now you've lost your chance to show off." Brooks said that Shepard's crew are legends to the rest of the Alliance. Spartan Walker stepped in,

"The Master Chief's squad, Spartan Blue Team are Legends to the UNSC."

Brooks turned to Walker, "They are the kind that people look up to. The kind they owe their lives to."

Walker replied, "Still sounds a lot like Blue Team." Wrex complained about why everyone's shooting at them while Tali joked that they were mostly shooting at Wrex. The Krogan thought that he gained weight, Liara stepped in,

"That just means there is more of the legend to love." Wrex sneered as Brooks finished why the crew of the Normandy were legends, Walker finished,

"Definitely like Blue Team."

Shepard spoke, "It's just part of the job."

Garrus asked, "Job? You mean the rest of you are getting paid for this?"

Spartan Davenport patted Garrus' shoulder, "We all get paid for this. That's what Soldiers always do if they survive."

Brooks decrypted the data, "Here we go." She sifted through the data and said in shock, "Wow, those mercs who were after you, they bought a lot of weapons….like big ones."

Spartan Tanner spoke in amazement, "Big weapons….like a Mantis mech something that qualifies as a drivable mech?" A holographic Atlas mech appears on the console as Tanner realized, "It might not look like a Mantis, but it looks deadly like a Mantis."

Major Kaidan Alenko looked at the Spartan and back at the hologram and asked, "But what do they need with that kind of firepower?"

Glyph started to go over to them while its center beeped red as Javik said, "It appears this drone is about to rebel." Spartan Grayson face-palmed, "Glyph's a Dumb AI; he's only suitable for one function and one function only."

Glyph spoke, "Spartan Grayson's insight on AI creation from UNSC standards is correct." Spartan Walker asked, "Is there something we should know?"

Glyph replied, "I have just monitored the Commander's Spectre Access Code in use at the Citadel Archives."

Shepard spoke, "Punch it up." Glyph pulled up a map of the archives as one of the areas went red as Brooks said, "The Archives are going into emergency lockdown. Whoever's hacking your records is there right now!"

Shepard asked, "What do we know about the place?"

Garrus using his history on the Citadel spoke, "Council keeps sensitive historical information there, real hush-hush. Even my old C-sec clearance never got me in."

Spartan Davenport said while putting on her Mark V helmet and pulling out her Binary Rifle, "Then we'll let ourselves in."

Shepard acknowledged Spartan Davenport's enthusiasm as all Spartans motioned after her; he turned around, "Gear up and lets…" He stopped at the sight of a Volus holding something, Shepard asked,

"What's with the Volus?" James shrugged, "Pizza delivery guy, I got the munchies." Spartan Walker saw a few of those aliens when observing the Citadel and the Casino, the Volus said,

"*hsss* Double Pepperoni." Brooks looked at the map of the Archives and said, "These archives are huge, you'll have a lot of ground to cover. Shame you can't bring everyone."

Shepard turned towards the squad, "Who says we can't? All hands on deck for this one, and that means you too, Crimson."

Spartan Walker pulled out his MA5D Assault Rifle, "We won't let you down in the Archives." James asked, "But who's taking point with you?"

The Spartans heard the squad going 'ahem' it was basically a choice that Shepard chooses his squadmates. But the Volus went 'ahem' and asked, "*hss* Who's going to pay the bill?"

* * *

In the Archives, the Promethean Knight and its Watcher companion were spying on an enemy formation, the formation looked like they were waiting for something or someone. The Knight had a feeling now that he and his Watcher would get busy soon enough. The Watcher spoke with the Knight saying something about a transmission between the squads and the leader of these mercs, the Watcher played it,

"_Commander Shepard has found out where we are. Shepard also has those Spartans with him, eliminate Shepard, his squad and kill those Spartans in the process. Our spy told us about a Promethean Watcher and Knight that was present when Khan was terminated. Keep your eyes out for that thing."_

The other end of was one of the squad leaders, _"We'll keep an eye out for that Knight, we already got a definite ID on the Knight, thanks to our spy."_

The Watcher cut off communications between the two as they heard an explosion from above. The Knight looked at a catwalk and saw a Krogan flanked by a Turian, it was two squads, but he only saw one Reclaimer. The Knight saw the squads get fired upon by the enemy formation the Knight soon activated his Promethean vision and spotted four Reclaimer signatures sneaking behind the enemy soldiers as one of the Reclaimers snapped a soldier's neck, a second one forcefully turned the soldier around and stabbed him with a combat knife, a third Reclaimer tackled a sniper as she brought her knife down on the sniper, and the fourth Reclaimer pulled out an Energy Sword and impaled the fourth enemy soldier.

Spartan Walker and Fireteam Crimson were having a hell of a good time with fighting off the CAT6 soldiers. Those CAT6 bozos are nothing compared to a squad of Spartans and despite that they are working with a squad of non-Spartans, they knew not to get on Shepard's bad side. Spartan Walker de-cloaked as a CAT6 Specialist attempted to whack him with a shock baton, he ducked at the last minute and pulled out his Energy Sword and stabbed the soldier through the abdomen, instant fatality. Walker ordered,

"Spartans, de-cloak! They know we're here now!" Walker fired his MA5D Assault Rifle as Spartan Grayson was dual-wielding two Covenant Plasma Rifles; Walker had a combination plan,

"Alex, use your Plasma Rifles on their shields and I'll finish them off with the MA5D." A green light winked and Grayson peppered the CAT6 soldiers with Plasma fire while Walker fired his MA5D at the same group of mercs. Once all the mercs in their vicinity were down, The Mysterious Figure, who was holding Brooks hostage, yelled,

"Enough! Drop your weapons or this won't end well for her!" Brooks said to her captor, "You bastard!"

The Spartans looked around and saw that they were surrounded as well as the squad; Shepard placed his weapon down, "Alright." Walker said to his team,

"Stand down, at least for now."

Grayson asked, "John, what are you doing?" Walker motioned towards a nearby catwalk where they saw a familiar figure and a Watcher. Walker turned off his external speakers and said over the helmet com, "Spartans, lock on to him. He could be an ally to us." All green lights winked as they locked on to their 'friend.' Fireteam Crimson also dropped their weapons with a dull clang and the Mysterious Figure released Brooks. Shepard looked at this shadowy figure,

"Whatever you're getting away with, there's nowhere you can run, nowhere you can hide where we can't find you."

The Mysterious Figure shrugged, "Hide, why?" He stepped into the light, "I'm Commander Shepard, I never hide!"

Lieutenant Murphy asked, "Is it just me or am I seeing double?"

Tali replied, "It's not just you." The 'other' Shepard leapt from the catwalk down to their level as Shepard asked,

"Who are you?" The duplicate replied, "You're not the only Shepard that Cerberus brought back to life. But at least one of us will finally do something with it."

Shepard asked, "Where did you come from?" The duplicate replied as he pointed, "The same DNA as you."

Spartan Walker said in shock, "A Flash Clone. Dr. Halsey told me about those types. I'm surprised that this one didn't die."

The clone turned toward the Spartan, "Cerberus spent no expense resurrecting him. With me, I was created for spare parts in case he needed another arm or a heart or a lung."

Shepard asked, "Where have been this whole time?" The clone turned back to the Commander, "In a coma, until I woke up six months ago. While you were in a jail cell on Earth, I was learning to be human. Amazing what a person could do with enough neural implants."

Lieutenant Murphy called out, "You might look and act like Shepard, but let's face it, that role was filled."

The clone looked at the Lieutenant, "By the wrong man, its time the understudy had his day."

Shepard asked, "Did the Illusive Man send you?" The Clone replied, "No, he abandoned me when he had what he wanted….you."

Spartan Davenport asked, "Then what is your problem with us?"

The Clone replied to the female Spartan, "Because I don't have his memories. I never fool my supposed friends, the ones who abandoned their duty to join the Cult of Shepard."

Spartan Tanner started laughing at the Clone calling Shepard's squad a Cult, "You should go into comedic business instead of trying to kill us." The Clone clenched his fist, "Like you four Spartans and your pilot, you've ruined that hit that I've set when you first made your appearance!"

Spartan Walker replied at his accusation, "You are a Sad Strange Little Man or Clone."

The Clone turned to Tali, "And you, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, I don't know if I should kill you with a bullet or take off your helmet and cough."

Tali retaliated, "You're just a cheap imitation of the real thing!" The Clone spoke to Shepard, "I'm the real thing perfected, I'm you without the wear and tear, Shepard, the doubts, the failures, I'm the Lone Wolf you were always meant to be….without the emotional baggage holding me back."

Liara spoke, "No one will ever believe you're Shepard!"

Spartan Walker stepped in, "Everyone knows that Shepard is not a Lone Wolf. We are a team that Lone Wolf stuff stays behind." The Clone looked at the Spartan and the Asari, "They will when I'm flying the ship."

Shepard tried to issue emergency lockdown on the Normandy and transmitted command codes, but the Clone got a hold of the codes, blocked the signal and ordered an emergency departure. Liara noticed Walker looking up at the Catwalk, she was going to ask until he silently pointed to where he was looking and saw their 'friend' prepping for attack. The Spartan returned a smile, but because of the helmet, he spread two fingers across the faceplate while Liara slightly smiled. They heard Shepard intimidate the Clone saying that he'll be glad to kill himself. The Clone turned away and ordered,

"Execute them, the Spartans and their pilot too; The Cult of Shepard ends today."

Until something landed on the Clone's chest, knocking him down until he was flat on his back being pinned down by something. The Clone looked up and saw a menacing face with glowing blue eyes and two inner arms while the outer arms were floating, the creature's faceplate opened up revealing a blue human mimetic skull intimidating the Clone. He ordered,

"SHOOT THIS THING!" The CAT6 Soldiers turned their weapons towards the Knight until Spartan Walker's Overshield activated as a green shield enveloped him as he snapped a CAT6 Specialist's neck while Shepard picked up Walker's MA5D to kill a CAT6 Heavy when its Omni-Shield was down. Shepard tossed Walker the MA5D while Shepard picked up his N7 Valkyrie. The Spartan handed Liara her Geth Plasma SMG as he used the Prefect's Hardlight Dagger system to kill the CAT6 soldier that had a pistol to her head. Shepard grabbed Tali's Geth Plasma Shotgun and used it against a CAT6 soldier that had his weapon trained on her. After killing the CAT6 captor, Shepard gave Tali her shotgun back. The others took the Knight's appearance as a signal to break free. The Clone forced the Knight off of him and ran into another corridor.

At that exact moment, all CAT6 soldiers had their weapons trained on the Promethean Knight as it began swaying its outer arms slightly. All soldiers opened fire on the Knight hoping to kill it, but it was more than they bargained for when the Knight's shields went active and their shots barely made a dent. Spartan Walker put his arm across Shepard saying,

"We might want to wait this one out." Shepard acknowledged this as a CAT6 Sniper tried to break through the Knight's shield until the Knight pulled out a Binary Rifle and aimed at the sniper. The Promethean fired the Forerunner Sniper Rifle, scoring a direct hit causing the merc to disintegrate. The Knight noticed two CAT6 Heavies with their Omni-Shields up as they attempted to charge the Promethean until the Knight swung its Blade Arm, cutting through the Omni-Shields as well as the flesh of the Heavies.

A group of CAT6 Specialists fired on the Knight as they tried to kill it until the Promethean pulled out the Incineration Cannon and fired in the center of the CAT6 group, when the orbs impacted the area they spread in four directions, those who got caught in it disintegrated instantly. The Knight pulled out a Lightrifle and picked off the survivors of the group and aimed for any CAT6 Snipers on the high ground. It spotted a CAT6 Heavy behind cover and raised its Blade Arm forward. The Spartans knew exactly what this action meant as a yellow orb fired behind the Heavy's cover. At the point of impact, an orange orb enveloped the CAT6 Heavy for a few seconds until it exploded outward causing the CAT6 Heavy to disintegrate.

A few CAT6 Heavies manage to reach the Knight so that they could attack it in CQC but they never saw the Knight's Blade Arm coming as it slashed through them. The Knight looked up and saw the glass model of the Citadel and signaled its Watcher to shoot the Boltshot at one of the arms, because another duo of CAT6 Heavies reached him and attempted to issue the same thing. The Watcher appeared and shot one of the model's arms as it dropped on top of the CAT6 Heavies as the Knight Teleported to the squad's side. The Knight looked at them and said,

"_Go Reclaimers, we will handle these Meddlers! We will catch up with you once we are done."_

They had no question to the Knight but to just move on into the archives and stop the Clone Shepard.

Spartan Walker and Fireteam Crimson took the high ground as Fireteams Hammerhead and Mako took alternate routes.

Walker contacted Shepard, "That Knight is officially an ally. If we encounter him again, don't fire on him."

Shepard replied, "Copy that, Crimson. We'll pin an IFF tag on that Knight if he shows up deeper in the archives. Fireteam Mako, take point while Fireteam Hammerhead takes flank."

Brooks said on another end, "Good, what's a Mako?"

Liara replied on Shepard's end, "Something we could use right about now."

Lieutenant Murphy responded, "Fireteam Hammerhead confirmed." Cortez interrupted, "And the Mako's got nothing on the Hammerhead."

The Spartans heard various CAT6 soldiers dying because of the Knight's relentless force of attacks until the communications from a CAT6 squad called Rapier Squad,

"_The Watcher….just spawned these things! They're fast, and annoying, we've taken heavy losses from those Crawlers. JUST SHOOT THAT DAMN WATCHER!"_

* * *

As the Spartans moved deep into the Archives, Spartan Grayson initiated a conversation with Walker while checking their corners,

"While we were held against our will, I noticed that you made the Spartan Smile at Liara."

Walker shrugged, "Maybe it's because I warned her that the Knight is here and when she saw it I gave her the Spartan Smile to make sure that its okay." Then he had another option, "Or maybe it's because I'm growing to like her. I don't know which."

Davenport replied, "I overheard you talking to her about the Forerunners and your armor."

Tanner finished, "And don't get us wrong, John. We know you were always into alien scientists."

Walker realized what his fellow Spartans were reminding him of what he prefers, "You're right, and Liara is an archeologist that falls in the confines of scientist. She's smart, resourceful and she knows how to hold out against impossible odds. She's been a friend of Shepard for the past three years in this universe." He smiled, "She knows about these Protheans and the last of his kind is not the friendliest type, but he'll open up. When I told her about the Forerunners, she saw similarities between the Protheans and the Forerunners. She learned a lot of knowledge from me about a species that the four of us plus Murphy know about."

They heard Shepard on the comm, _"Shepard to Fireteam Crimson, Status report!"_

Walker looked at where they are, "Walker here, we've made it deep within the archives. But we see a CAT6 Atlas that could cause serious damage to Fireteams Mako and Hammerhead."

Shepard replied, _"Nice catch, Spartans. I'll order the Fireteams to hold position until you take it out."_

Walker looked at the Atlas, the archive vaults and the walkways leading to the Atlas; he pulled out a Plasma Pistol and said,

"Actually, Commander, We're going to take it. Crimson, out." Spartan Grayson looked at what Walker meant,

"So you are going to jump across the walkway, vault over the railing and run alongside the vaults to reach the Atlas. Then you can disable it using an overcharged Plasma Pistol shot, so you can pry the cockpit open and kill the pilot, allowing you to take control."

Spartan Walker nodded, "Exactly as planned." Spartan Tanner asked, "Since when did this turn into Titanfall?"

Walker didn't answer as he leaped over to the other walkway, vaulted over the railings and ran alongside the vaults until the Atlas spotted him. He heard the CAT6 comms saying,

"_It's one of those Spartans! He's heading straight for the Atlas, shoot him!" _

Walker jumped from the vaults, fired an Overcharged Plasma Pistol shot to disable it long enough for him to land on the Atlas. He ignored the CAT6 Soldier pounding his Overshield as the other Spartans picked them off, following his example. He pried open the cockpit and slammed his Hard-Light Dagger into the Pilot. After disposing the corpse, he sat in the cockpit as the Atlas came back online. He opened a comm line to Shepard,

"Walker to Shepard, Atlas is under control, I repeat, Atlas is under control!"

Shepard said in amusement, _"Spartans, you never cease to amaze us. Hammerhead and Mako are coming in on your position now!"_

The Spartans soon reformed as they moved up with the Normandy Fireteams as they covered Shepard and his team from above. Walker realized that he depleted the mech's shields when he fired that Plasma Pistol shot to disable it. He pressed a few buttons on the Prefect's TACPAD, and the Atlas' Shields came back online plus the Prefect's Overshield system added to the Atlas. He noticed that it caused some attention when Kaiden tapped the hull,

"What did you do?"

Walker replied, "I somehow manage to expand my armor's Overshield to the Atlas' main shield doubling its strength."

Kaiden replied, "Okay, It will prove useful in aiding Shepard."

Walker nodded and said, "Crimson 1 to all Crimson units, we will be joining Fireteam Hammerhead."

Garrus replied over the comm, _"Aww come on."_

Lieutenant Murphy saluted, "Nice of you to join us, Spartans."

Walker replied, "Likewise, Lieutenant. Now let's take out Razor Squad."

Spartan Grayson noticed something, "Razor Squad is already fighting something and its not any of the Fireteams." The Spartans and the Normandy crew looked at what Razor Squad was fighting and they saw something swipe its Blade Arm and teleport charge in a Zigzag formation and instantly killed three CAT6 Heavies while a squad of Crawlers overwhelmed the other CAT6 soldiers while losing a few Crawlers along the way. It turns out the Promethean Knight has dealt with Razor Squad before they came to that point. Before they moved on, Shepard gave the Knight thumbs up saying,

"Thanks" The Knight nodded as it stayed behind while the others went deeper into the Archives. As they made their way to try and surround the target, they heard one of the CAT6 soldiers say,

"_That Damn Knight tore through Razor Squad. The Spartans have hijacked our Atlas and Shepard's still alive."_ The Clone soon replied, _"The next person who says that is fired!"_

Walker decided to use the Atlas' comm system and send an intimidating message to the Clone, "Attention Flash Clone Shepard, This is Spartan Commander John Walker, Leader of Fireteam Crimson, you might be trying to steal Shepard's Identity, but even if you do. You won't be able to get away with this. Have you ever faced a SPARTAN-IV before? Few Terrorists have and you and your low-life minions are considered Terrorists. When we find you, you are going to regret trying to kill us, especially if it involves our newfound squadmates that Shepard has had with him throughout his career. But you better make sure you don't wet yourself before we arrive. Crimson 1, out."

The Spartan had a slight grin under the helmet until he got an angry message from the Clone, _"Look here, Spartan. I don't know who you are but you are messing with the wrong guy. You might've hijacked my only Atlas, killed most of my men, but Shepard has had the spotlight for too long. I'm not a Terrorist; I just want to surpass the original. I have a team of my own and you keep killing them all. Laugh while you can, because it will be the last thing that you will ever do."_

Walker contacted the real Shepard and said, "Shepard, this is Spartan Walker, come in." There was static and he suspected something was wrong. Then he managed to think back on the mission prior to their arrival. How they found Khan dead on the scene even though there was heavy security. So he decided to do one thing,

"Run a scan on Staff Analyst Maya Brooks." After the Atlas' computer and Alliance databases had no sign of a Maya Brooks, he soon realized that she was playing Shepard's team like a fiddle. His eyes widened behind the visor as he exited the Atlas and said, "I better remember where I parked."

Spartan Grayson spoke, "Already have that covered, you go on ahead." The Spartan leapt from the walkway and ran into the door that Shepard's team ran through. He ran with his MA5D by his side until he spotted Shepard, Tali and Liara about to step into the vault, He yelled,

"Commander, it's a Trap!" The squad looked at the Spartan in shock as the vault shields activated. Liara looked at the shields and said,

"That can't be good." Spartan Walker activated his comm to try and contact the rest of the Spartans, but there was no response. He tried again to see if anyone was on this frequency. Until the clone stepped forward and said as he crossed his arms,

"The short answer is no, they're not." The Commander fired at the shield until the Clone shook his head, "The longer answer involves you and your friends trapped in iridium vaults where you will be forgotten for well, forever." Shepard replied, "Others know about this, about you. The Alliance will stop you." The Spartan spoke,

"This whole thing was a trap and Brooks is the center of it all."

Brooks appeared from behind the clone, "Well, I guess the Spartan catches up pretty well on secrets."

Walker pointed, "You've been a spy for the Flash Clone this whole time and it only took me until when I ran a scan on you to figure it out."

Shepard asked, "Who the hell are you and do you really think I won't track you down?" Brooks replied, "My name doesn't matter, I never keep the same one more than a few days. And if the Illusive Man hasn't found me yet, you never will."

Shepard realized, "You're Cerberus?" Brooks replied, "Was. Mr. Illusive and I didn't see eye to eye. He's indoctrinated, whereas I prefer the whispers in my head to be my own.

Shepard asked, "Why not come to me? We could've worked together." Brooks replied, "In a way, we did, I'm the one who put together all those dossiers on your Suicide Mission."

The Spartan realized from what Shepard told him, "The Collector Base?" Brooks turned to the Spartan, "There was the Salarian doctor, the Asari Justicar, the Quarian." She looked at Tali, "Nice to have finally met you, Tali."

Tali replied in anger, "Charmed." Brooks continued to the group, "They were all mistakes. We were a Pro-Human Group who started looking to aliens for help. So I bided my time and when I found another you, who agreed, I woke him up."

Walker asked, "What was the point of this trap?" Brooks replied in sly sort of way, "You might not have arrived when this started, but all we really wanted was Shepard's Spectre code. But then he survived the hit, no thanks to you, your merry band of Super-Soldiers, your pilot and your armed dropship, and insisted on bringing his damned Asari into it, so I had to tie up loose ends."

Walker became angry, "The Arms dealer."

Shepard realized this as he saw a Hard-Light dagger spring from the Spartan's left gauntlet as Brooks turned to Shepard, "But then that Knight, the Watcher and your Sexbot just had to go and recover the data. So here we are, forced here to contain the situation."

They noticed another Hard-Light dagger spring from the Spartan's right gauntlet as the Spartan went into a fury,

"Once I get out of here, you will regret angering a Spartan. Because I would use these Hard-Light Daggers and stab you two repeatedly until you draw your last breaths! Then I would decapitate you two with my Energy Sword and mount them on the Pelican's hood! Then I would have Murphy accelerate until BOTH OF YOUR HEADS FALL OFF THE PELICAN!"

Shepard said to Brooks, "Now he's angry." Brooks said unaffected by the Spartan's insult, "That sounds very dramatic and if someone like Commander Shepard made the threat, I'd be worried." She turned to Shepard, "But you're not Shepard, not anymore." The Clone spoke, "You had Miranda, I had her, mine has more bite." Brooks said, "It was fun while it lasted." As the Clone moved to set things right for his own gain, he questioned Shepard saving more non-humans than humans. Shepard proclaimed that human or non-human, they all matter. After the Clone updated the handprint scanner for his own, he was going to return to the Normandy. But something happened,

The Spartan IV lost it as he said, "FUCK YOU, TWO!" and jabbed both Hard-Light Daggers into the barrier as the barrier began to ripple with the effect of the daggers as the Spartan began to drag his arms farther in order to make a hole in the barrier. Brooks and the Clone were shocked by this soldier's anger in what the Clone did. They heard him strain under the strength of the shields as he began to move through the barrier. After pushing through the barrier, he used his excessive rage, pushed Brooks aside and made a mad dash for the clone as he pulled out his Energy Sword; the clone activated his Omni-Blade.

The duel between the Spartan and the Clone commenced when Walker used his fast movements to counter the Clone's Omni-Blade. The Clone managed to counter the Energy Sword as they moved throughout the area where they're fighting. As they locked blades and they were facing each other, the Spartan yelled,

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

The Clone replied, "So I've underestimated you." The Spartan pushed toward the Clone as he slammed his left arm against the Clone's armor causing a grunt from his adversary, they locked blades again as the Clone spoke, "What are you really fighting for? Are you fighting for Shepard, your Spartans or is it Liara?"

The Spartan yelled, "I WILL KILL YOU!"

The Clone stated, "If you wish to join Shepard and his crew, so be it!" The Clone tried to make a slash at the Spartan, but the Spartan's techniques with the Energy Sword proved too much for the Clone as the Spartan used a sweep kick to knock the clone to the ground. The Spartan deactivated his Energy Sword and created a Hard-Light Barrier around the Clone as he lifted him up telepathically and slammed him to the ground, Walker spoke in an angry tone as he re-ignited and pointed the energy sword to his downed adversary,

"YOU WILL DIE WHERE YOU LIE!"

Shepard called out from the Vault, "Don't kill him yet."

Walker stated, "You want him dead as much as I do."

Shepard replied, "But not yet."

Walker asked, "You want to take him prisoner?"

Shepard replied, "Yes, we can present him to the Council, put him on trial for crimes against my life and my crew. And then we'll execute him."

Walker began thinking that if he lets him live, the Council will think that he's the real Shepard, but he doesn't know exactly. But if he kills him, he doesn't know what would happen. He decided to de-activate his Energy Sword, but because of breaking through the barrier and the duel, it caused him to pass out as he fell face first onto the floor. Shepard and his squad actually saw a Spartan go down due to exhaustion.

Liara was actually worried about the Spartan after seeing him lose himself to rage and dueling the Clone as he constantly yelled out that he would kill him, but after Shepard convincing him to let him live. The Spartan's rage died down and he dropped like a rock into unconsciousness. She had a feeling that this Spartan, despite his knowledge of the Forerunners, has a prone sense to violence when it comes to intimidating enemies like the Clone. She has to help the Spartan to calm him down.

The Clone got up as well as Brooks and he said to Shepard, "Now if you excuse me, the Normandy needs its captain. Even after facing a monster like your Spartan, it needs its captain now more than ever. So…" He turned around, "I should go."

Brooks spoke, "Farewell, Commander, I guess this is where legends…" She looked at the unconscious Spartan, "And monsters go to die." They left as the vault sealed itself and Shepard's squad in it as well. As the vault closed, a lone Promethean Crawler came to the unconscious Spartan and looked at the moving vault. It sent out a signal so that the Knight will know where to go.

Inside the vault, Liara said, "That went well, though after seeing the Spartan get angry like that. He needs help after this is all over."

Shepard kept pondering on when the Clone said, 'I should go' and wondered if he sounded like that. Liara remembered that it was one of the first things that Shepard said to her. Tali was reminding everyone if they should worry about their death from lack of oxygen. Until they saw a familiar image of the Promethean Knight Teleport into the vault, wrap its outer arms across the three of them and teleport out of the vault.

**So, this took longer than I expected this chapter to be. But it turns out that Walker has bestial side of his personality. Liara seems concerned about the Spartan-IV if he has that monstrous side of his soldier side. So the Promethean Knight makes a full combat appearance as an ally to the team. Now comes the part where the Spartans and the Knight retake the Normandy from the Flash Clone Shepard. Round two will come.**


	5. The Real, the Clone and the Spartan

**Hey, guys, John here with a brand new chapter and some news involving the previous chapter. That conversation that Cortez had with Murphy, No, I'm not going to pair them. It's going to be a brotherly bond between Cortez and Murphy, like a wingman. **

**About Spartan Walker's Bestial Rage that made him tear apart the Vault Barrier, it would be revealed somewhere further in the story.**

Chapter 5 The Real, the Clone, and the Spartan

Spartan John Walker regained consciousness, he remembered being given a choice to either kill or capture the Clone Shepard. He chose to capture the Clone, but he passed out due to exhaustion from his rage. He felt some thumps and realized that he was moving; he opened his eyes and realized that he was inside the captured CAT6 Atlas while it was blowing a hole into the ceiling and using its thrusters to exit the archives. As the Atlas touched down, the Atlas' comm spoke with Spartan Grayson's voice,

"_John, you alive in there?"_ Walker replied, "Alex, I'm fine, but why am I back inside the captured Atlas?"

Commander Shepard's voice came on the line, "When the Knight teleported us out of the Vault, Liara immediately went to where you passed out. We contacted Kaidan and Wrex to help Liara and I carry you with our biotics. Kaidan argued about how heavy the armor was. Wrex couldn't comprehend how you guys wear it. But because of our biotics straining to the weight of your armor, we had to put you back in the Atlas while Grayson pilots it via remote control."

Walker removed his helmet to feel his head as he said, "Well, thanks guys. By the way, what happened to the Knight?" The Knight came into view as it spoke,

"_We have requested to join Shepard's crew. But we have very grave news; The Clone Shepard is stealing the ship designated as 'Normandy' and we have to stop him."_

Walker hit the open canopy button on the Atlas and stepped onto the ground, although feeling a little shaky on landing. He asked Shepard,

"Am I fit for duty?"

Shepard nodded, "As long as you don't go through that rage in the archives."

Walker placed his helmet back on, "I won't be doing that again, but it comes almost instantaneously." He looked at Shepard, "I'm not promising that I won't kill the Clone."

Shepard smiled, "This is a Capture or Kill order on him right now."

Walker took out his MA5D as the rest of his team gathered, but he turned his attention to the Knight, "But if you're joining us, what should we call you?"

The Promethean replied, _"Watcher has suggested that I would be called, 'Wenrum' after a Salarian romance tale. Wenrum is designated as 'White Knight' in Salarian terms."_

Liara realized, "There is a planet in the system where my base is. It has the same name and it's named after its white surface."

Wenrum's back shook as it replied, _"Confirmed by Star Charts from SSV Normandy, Wenrum is among these worlds. As it will be an appropriate metaphor for a name. My name is Wenrum, Promethean Knight and I now serve the Reclaimers."_ He knelt down in front of the Spartans.

Tali spoke, "I guess this Knight worships you four."

Spartan Walker replied, "Forerunner Combat AIs like the Prometheans usually serve the Didact, but Wenrum does not."

Wenrum got up as he replied, _"Discussion over why I don't feel the Didact is something that we should discuss later. We must stop the Clone."_

Joker appeared in a Skycar, "I got room for Shepard, plus two…." The Pelican touched down as Murphy said over the comm, "Spartans and Knight pile in!" Joker finished, "And do it fast because the other Shepard is stealing my ship!" Shepard motioned Tali and Liara to get aboard the Skycar until he noticed disgruntled looks among his crew,

"What?"

Wrex grumbled, "I wanted to go." Javik spoke, "So did I. Fifty Thousand years later and I rarely get picked." Wenrum teleported in front of the Prothean, _"One hundred thousand years later and I serve the Reclaimers on their team."_ The Promethean teleported back to the Pelican.

Shepard said to his crew, "Joker will come back for you. I promise." The Skycar sealed up and the Pelican's loaded ramp closed as the two transports lifted off to the Docks.

* * *

Inside the Skycar, Joker began to pout,

"This is why I hate Shore Leave. I swear, you park the ship for five minutes."

Shepard asked, "Can you contact Citadel Flight Control and get them to deny the departure request?"

Joker shook his head, "Tried, all the comm lines in the area are jammed, probably to make it easier for them to steal my ship!"

Shepard replied, "We'll stop them." Until the comm line in Shepard's Blood Dragon Helmet sprang to life,

"_Crimson to Shepard, Wenrum is beginning to start the diversion. He will draw of the CAT6 thugs in the area so we can get to the ship."_

Shepard replied, "With all of your combat methods, the Council will want to know what's going on."

Walker paused and replied, _"I understand, Commander. After this, My Spartans can't remain a secret for long."_

Shepard decided, "Tell Wenrum that he's good to go." The Spartan-IV replied, _"Its time that the Flash Clone actually sees who he's dealing with…for real this time. He might've altered your biometric logs. But the Council's not stupid enough to see him as the Real thing. I know they were stupid to deny your warnings, but this is different."_ Hecut the comm line as they saw the docks erupting in a firefight between the CAT6 thugs and the Promethean Knight, Watcher and anything the Watcher can spawn.

Joker approached the docks where the Normandy is, "Okay, Citadel Systems are targeting the car, but I don't think they spotted the Pelican." Spartan Walker came on the line,

"_Commander, this is Walker, we've dropped out near the docking tunnel of the Normandy. We've got hostile forces near our position, we'll hold out until you get here or if Wenrum kills them all."_

Shepard replied, "Wait for us to arrive at the docking tunnel. Joker is going back to pick up the rest of the crew."

Murphy came on to the comm, _"Murphy here, I'm remaining on station in case of assist."_

Shepard asked, "Lieutenant, how did you evade Citadel Systems from locking on to you?"

Murphy smirked, _"Courtesy of our Friendly Neighborhood Wenrum. He masked our radar blip and made us invisible to Citadel defense."_

Shepard and his team advanced towards the Normandy while encountering just a pocket resistance of CAT6 Soldiers. They saw a platoon of CAT6 Heavies in their path until they were swarmed by a bunch of Promethean Crawlers, one even sniped a Heavy causing him to disintegrate.

Liara saw a Crawler get killed near her as she ran out of ammo from her Predator Pistol. She looked at the Crawler's remains and pulled out a Forerunner Boltshot. She was curious on how it works until she was jumped by a CAT6 Specialist as she held the trigger on the gun. The sides opened up for a short time until it let out a close-range shot that killed the CAT6 soldier. She looked at the damage it did and she was impressed. When the squad moved up to meet with the Spartans, Liara spotted the remains of another Crawler as she picked up a Forerunner Suppressor. She didn't have time to compare it with her Hornet SMG because a CAT6 Heavy ambushed her. She just squeezed the Suppressor's trigger and it fired multiple hard-light projectiles. The projectiles pierced the Heavy's shield and tore through its armor like it was nothing.

As they approached the Normandy, they found Wenrum impaling a CAT6 Sniper as he said,

"_Never show aggression towards the Reclaimers and their friends."_ The Promethean removed its Blade Arm from the Sniper as he turned toward Shepard,

"_The Reclaimers have confirmed that the Normandy is going to take off."_

Walker came up to Wenrum, "They are not even going through any pre-flight checks." Shepard said,

"Let's get aboard before it takes off." They entered the docking tube as they made their way towards the Normandy entrance. But as they got there, the squad saw Comm Specialist Samantha Traynor, who was pissed off of seeing Shepard,

"You….you were just on the Normandy! You….you FIRED me, dishonorable discharge for combat unbecoming! You kicked me off the ship with barely enough time to grab my toothbrush!"

Spartan Grayson spoke, "That wasn't the Commander!"

Spartan Walker stepped in, "That was a Flash Clone who 'fired' you. And we're here to either kill or capture him."

Traynor looked at the massive soldiers and the machine, "And who are you?"

Walker spoke, "I'm Spartan John Walker, Commander of Fireteam Crimson. We're here with Shepard to take down the Flash Clone and retake this ship." The machine scanned Traynor's toothbrush as Shepard remembered the name,

"That's a scission pro Mark IV, it uses Mass Effect fields to break up plaque and massage the gums."

Traynor replied, "Yes, I told you that." Wenrum spoke, _"And the Commander remembers the name and description of your tool. The Meddler who fired you isn't the real Shepard."_

Traynor looked at the Promethean, "And this 'meddler' threw me off the ship, if that wasn't him."

Tali replied as she, Liara and the Spartans opened the door, "It was a clone, honestly once you serve on the Normandy long enough, you get used to things like this…..including the Spartans and their Forerunner AI."

Traynor was about to ask until Shepard stopped her, "I can explain more later, for now." Shepard entered the Airlock as the door control turned red,

"It's sealed." Liara spoke, "The Normandy's about to take off."

Wenrum scanned the nearby airlock until he tore open the floor revealing a small hatch, _"Emergency Exit hatch, it is the only way into the ship."_

Traynor looked at the Knight and said, "Thank you." Shepard scanned the hatch, "Manuel lock and it's meant to be opened from the other side any ideas."

Liara spoke, "I could try a biotic field, but I don't have the fine control to trigger it." Wenrum looked at his Blade Arm as Traynor activated her toothbrush.

After both Wenrum's Blade Arm and Traynor's Toothbrush opened the exit hatch, they were in the vents as Shepard said,

"If you told me this morning, that a toothbrush was going to save the Normandy, I would've been quite skeptical."

Spartan Walker replied, "I bet Wenrum knows what he was doing when teleported in here after he and your comm specialist cut through the emergency hatch." The Normandy now took off and was going to get clear of the nebula.

* * *

Meanwhile the Clone was at the CIC and he was finally in Shepard's position that he was denied for so long. Finally the Normandy was his, until a CAT6 soldier spoke,

"Sir, just before take-off, Normandy registered a perimeter access alert. One of the security hatches." The Clone realized, "Him. Where?" The soldier shrugged, "Unknown, when we shut down the AI, we disabled a lot of security systems. Shepard could be anywhere on the ship."

The Clone said, "Shepard is standing right in front of you! Are we clear?"

The Soldier spoke, "Not the least, we also confirmed that the Monster is with Shepard."

The Clone yelled, "Him again!?"

Brooks spoke, "Its better this way, wouldn't you want to take them down yourself?" The Clone realized this and went to the elevator with Brooks,

"Armory, find them, slow them down. Especially, the Monster." The door closed and they were well on their way down to the armory.

Meanwhile underneath the walkway to the cockpit, Shepard and Fireteam Crimson were on their way to the ramp to open the door to the CIC. Shepard stated,

"We're just lucky Traynor still has her toothbrush, thanks to Wenrum's Blade Arm."

Spartan Walker replied, "Wenrum is already in position to ambush the CIC crew. He should strike right about….." They heard a firefight above them, "Now."

Liara spoke, "I'm not quite fond of tight spaces."

Spartan Walker asked, "But you used to work in dig sites?"

Liara replied, "Then I was trapped in a Prothean Stasis Field."

The Spartan spoke, "Point taken." The group heard cries of agony from above as they heard Wenrum doing his job at cleaning house. When they reached the stair access control, Shepard hit the button and entered seeing Wenrum screaming his mimetic skull at a frightened CAT6 Specialist causing him to collapse from fright. Shepard asked,

"Is scaring people your agenda?" Wenrum's faceplate closed and said, _"Anything I do protects the Reclaimers from harm."_ The Promethean turned to the Spartan Commander, _"And this Reclaimer had a combat engagement with the Meddler in the archives. But, now this engagement will be different."_

Walker nodded, "I won't have a rage that I had in the archives." They came to a dumpster that had all of Shepard's things, his ship models, a screaming sound in the bin, including something that made it personal…..his pet hamster. They went into the elevator to head down to the armory, Liara noticed Walker pulling out the hilt of the Energy Sword from his side as she thought about that rage that she witnessed. She noticed that the Spartan's rage suggested a deep personal issue. Liara had to ask,

"Walker, back in the archives, it almost felt like you wanted to kill the clone in cold blood. But what happened to you to enter such a state?"

The Spartan looked at the Asari, "It happened during the Human/Covenant War, I was a marine evacuating the civilians, my parents among them. When I was going to load my parents on the Pelican….that's when HE came."

Liara asked, "He?" The Spartan clenched his fist, "Jul'Mdama, he is a Sangheili shipmaster who de-cloaked and jabbed two energy daggers into the abdomens of my parents. After I saw that, I tackled Mdama to ground and repeatedly punched him in the face several times. He sprang his energy dagger, but I used my combat knife to pry his plasma gauntlet off his wrists. I stabbed his legs, then his shoulder. I put my gun to his head as he taunted me to shoot him….I was urged to, but…..I had to let him go. I told him to leave and warned him that if I ever saw him again…I would kill him."

Liara was shocked by Walker's story and asked, "After the war ended, what became of Jul'Mdama?"

Walker flashed back, "It was during the Sangheili Civil War, UNSC Infinity was sent to assist our Sangheili Allies, led by Arbiter Thel'Vadam who pursued a permanent peace between the Humans and Sangheili…..some didn't agree and treated the Arbiter like an idiot. Jul was among those who believed that the Arbiter was a traitor and heretic when the Arbiter and his allies are only speaking the truth and what's good for both races."

Liara asked, "What was the truth?"

Walker pointed to Wenrum, "That Forerunner artefacts react to human touch and Forerunner AIs call humans, 'Reclaimers'. My race in my universe are the rightful heirs to the Forerunners. That's what the Arbiter and his followers believed in."

Liara responded, "That's why Wenrum called you, your team and your pilot, Reclaimers." She asked, "But what does Jul'Mdama have to do with your rage besides your story?"

Walker lowered his head, "When I heard that Jul is now the leader of the Covenant Remnant, what remains of the former Covenant, I've been working to find him….." He slammed his fist against the elevator door, "And take him down!"

Liara realized, "That's what happened when I was obsessed with hunting the Shadow Broker."

Walker nodded, "That's when I had my first 'Mdama Rage, my eyesight changes and all I can see is Jul'Mdama."

Liara was intrigued on how Walker's 'Mdama Rage worked and it was caused by one. Suddenly the elevator stops at the shuttle bay, as they all pile out and scan the area. As they were scanning the area, they saw the Clone Shepard step out behind cover, now clad in N7 Armor, holding an N7 Hurricane. Shepard commented,

"Well, that's creepy." The clone opened fire as they fired back and hid behind cover. The Clone shouted behind cover,

"You want to stop shooting up my ship!"

Shepard responded, "It's not your ship!"

The Clone shouted with pride, "It will be! I've taken your name, your Spectre Rank, even your fingerprints!"

Shepard got out of cover, "And then you left me to die; only I didn't. You think fake fingerprints are going to fool the Council or Hackett?!" He went to the Clone's cover, but he wasn't there and asked,

"How's the fake plan looking now?" He didn't the Clone attempted to charge him with his Omni-Blade, when he was about to strike, Walker blocked it with his Energy Sword as he said to the Clone,

"Round Two….without 'Mdama Rage." He picked the Clone up and hurled him to where he took cover. Brooks came out with an N7 Crusader saying over the comm,

"Hatchet Squad to the Shuttle Bay!" She fired her shotgun at the Spartan who immediately took cover. Walker shouted,

"Grayson, Wenrum, Get your Suppressors ready and set on incapacitate! Tanner, Davenport, Equip your Lightrifles, aim for any CAT6 Soldier and set to kill! I'm going to assist Shepard in taking out the Clone!" A series of Green lights and one blue light winked and they were all going to work. Walker assisted Shepard as he used a biotic throw on one of the Soldiers while his shields were down. Walker contacted Murphy,

"Murphy, are you speeding behind us?"

Murphy replied, _"Affirmative, Commander, Joker and Cortez have overridden the Skycar's safety so they could obstruct the Normandy and keep it from leaving."_

Joker said in shock, _"Plan B stands for bait!?"_

Murphy chuckled, _"And if I have the tactical advantage, I'll open fire on the Normandy."_

Joker asked, _"But…THAT'S A DROPSHIP!"_

Cortez spoke, _"It has a laser and it's outfitted for full combat pursuit."_

Joker was frantic, _"Don't SHOOT DOWN MY SHIP!"_

Murphy shouted, _"Relax, Joker, I'm only going to pump enough firepower in that corvette to simply make sure it doesn't leave."_

Shepard couldn't help but laugh at the argument that Joker is having with Murphy, nor could Walker. The Clone tried to surprise the Spartan with an Omni-Blade attack, but with Walker's reaction time, he managed to block it with his Energy Sword and kick the Clone to the ground. The Clone shouted,

"I'm COMMANDER SHEPARD!"

Shepard replied, "Are you kidding me? Conrad Verner is better at being me than you are!" Walker remembered Shepard telling him about that crazed fan who always wants to prove himself for three years. Until he gave him his doctoral dissertation on Xeno-technology about Dark Energy also blocked a bullet that was from a Cerberus sleeper agent, only to be saved by a woman named Jenna who sabotaged the agent's gun. As the firefight raged on, Cortez came on the line,

"_Moving in, Commander, Murphy is coming in from the rear. Damn that bird is fast."_

Joker and Cortez's Skycar moved into position to block the Normandy from getting clear of the Nebula. The Clone was actually getting agitated on what was going on.

"What the hell's going on? Get us out of the Nebula and jump to FTL!"

The CAT6 Pilot replied, "We can't, a Skycar keeps blocking our path!"

The Clone yelled, "THEN SHOOT IT!"

The Pilot followed the Clone's orders and began to shoot at the Skycar, Joker decided to sideseat drive,

"We need to stay within thirty degrees of the nose to block course plotting."

Cortez replied, "That makes us a perfect target!"

Joker corrected, "No, that makes us the bait, do you want me to drive?"

Cortez answered, "No, We just need to give Murphy a good shot at the engines to slow the ship down."

Back inside the ship, the Clone decided that trying to shoot the car isn't going anywhere, "Damn it, Launch the shuttle and blow that thing out of the sky!"

The bay door opened to launch the shuttle….which was immediately blown out of the sky by a crimson red laser, the Clone yelled,

"NO!"

Murphy said over the comm, _"Shuttle destroyed! Lieutenant TJ Murphy in position to fire on Normandy."_

Shepard came on the comm, "I can't believe I'm saying this. Lieutenant, Open Fire, hit one of the engines only."

Murphy replied, _"Target engine of my choosing in sight. Countdown to firing: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Firing Spartan Laser!"_ The Ship shook violently as the CAT6 pilot said,

"We've lost an engine, that laser cut through the barriers like they weren't there; we can't clear the Nebula like this!"

Walker stepped forward to the Clone who looked like he was on the verge of a rage, "Give up, Clone. Its over!"The Clone looked at the Spartan, "You! You and your Damn Spartans ruined everything! And now, it's just you and me. Shepard is no longer my priority now, it's now you!"

Walker pulled out his Energy Sword hilt, "Only a Covie would deal in absolutes, it's time to end this." He ignited his Energy Sword as the Clone activated his Omni-Blade as they dueled the second time in the Shuttle Bay. The Clone and Walker locked their blades together as the Clone said,

"You have ruined my plans, Monster!"

Walker replied, "Nice nickname for me." Walker pushed towards the Clone as he leapt and drop kicked the Clone, knocking him off balance. They locked their blades again as the Clone yelled,

"You will never be stronger than me!"

Walker replied calmly, "Yet, you can't succeed at killing a Spartan with your fake plan." Walker pushed towards the left of the Clone as he de-activated his Energy Sword and threw a series of light punches at the Clone.

The Clone threw a Biotic Throw at the Spartan-IV as he easily dodged it. The Clone tried to use a Biotic Singularity on Walker, but it was repelled back at him, thanks to the Prefect Armor's Manipulator system. The Singularity made the Clone stumble back because his shields were still up and attempted to use a Biotic Warp on Walker, but the Spartan implemented a Hardlight Shield that blocked the Warp. The Clone charged at the Spartan with his Omni-Blade ignited and said,

"I'm the Normandy's Captain!"

Walker charged with his Energy Sword in hand, "The Wrong type of Captain." As they both collided, the Spartan punched the Clone in the chest, but he put too much oomph in it as they were both tumbling out of the Shuttle bay and onto the ramp. The Clone was now on top as he punched the Spartan in the helmet, no collateral damage was inflicted. The Spartan kicked the Clone off as he attempted to stand, but the Pelican flew into the hanger along with the Skycar. The shockwave had both the Clone and the Spartan hanging over the edge. The Clone looked at the Spartan and said,

"Look at you and your loyalty to Shepard. What makes him so damn special? Why him and not me?"

The Spartan looked at him, "Because he has a loyal attitude for his crew and his friends. Unlike you, who claimed to be a Lone Wolf, Shepard works with a team. And for Spartan Teams like Noble back in my universe, that Lone Wolf stuff stays behind."

Shepard and his crew ran up to Walker as they had Spartan Grayson pull him up. The Clone looked inside the hanger and saw Brooks turn away from him. Grayson asked Shepard,

"What about this Flash Clone?" Shepard was up with the decision to either kill the Clone or save him. Shepard decided to do a compassionate way rather than having revenge, he held out his hand,

"Here, take my hand." The Clone asked, "And then?" Shepard replied giving him a realization, "And then you live." The Clone asked in defeat, "For what?" He purposely let go, but didn't fall too far as he was lifted up by Spartan Walker as he finished,

"For you to stand trial."

The Spartan set the Clone down between Davenport and Tanner as they got back into the hanger. Walker spoke to his sniper,

"Get something to hold him."

Davenport replied, "Yes, Commander." Grayson handed Walker a collar, "Liara gave me this 'Biotic Inhibitor' just in case you intended on capturing him." Walker nodded and placed the collar around the Clone's neck while Davenport returned with a pair of Tech handcuffs. Walker joined Shepard as Cortez said,

"Fortunately, they weren't here long enough to do much real damage. Although, I may need some help from James cleaning up the damage to shuttle bay, as well as making a more official room for the Pelican to land in. I saw it land in a tight spot, but a little remodeling will never hurt."

Joker spoke, "Well, they overloaded the Heat Diffusion System firing at us. Not sure if you noticed, but Shuttle-guy here did some crazy stunt flying to keep us in one piece."

Cortez stated, "It's nice to fly something more maneuverable than the Kodiak."

Murphy hopped out of the Pelican's Cockpit, "If you want more maneuverable, the YSS-100 Sabre Fighters and F-41 Broadsword Fighters back in our universe were more maneuverable. Damn good fighters."

Wenrum looked over Normandy systems, _"Shipboard construct designation: EDI is now in control of Normandy systems."_

Shepard asked, "What about the mercs?"

Joker replied, "Just one crappy ass pilot, your clone and her." He pointed to Brooks who was in custody by Spartan Grayson. "Alliance is taking her to a high security facility; maybe they could give them some dirt on Cerberus.

Brooks looked at her cuffs and said, "I'd be more than happy to cooperate with your policies."

Shepard said with a suspicious tone, "Maya, I know that voice."

Brooks asked, "Do you really?" The Commander walked up to her, "You're getting a chance to redeem yourself. Don't waste it."

Spartan Grayson gestured to Spartan Davenport as he saw Brooks hacking her cuffs as Brooks said,

"So serious, admit it, some of you liked having me around. Looking up to the legend." The Commander turned his back on Brooks as she said,

"We've had some laughs. And who knows? Maybe we'll have more someday. You know you'll miss me." She hacked her cuffs as she began to run. All of a sudden, a blue light struck Brooks in the back as she fell over, Shepard turned around to see Spartan Davenport holding a Binary Rifle that sported a blue glow to it instead of orange. She said,

"Set it to incapacitate, she'll wake up in a cell soon enough."

Joker got on the comm, "Maintenance to the Shuttle Bay."

* * *

As the Normandy docked back in the hanger where it was receiving a retrofit, it was surrounded by C-Sec agents, Shepard said to Walker,

"There are C-Sec Officers at the docks, there's no point on hiding now."

Walker nodded, "Wenrum also acknowledges our situation. We'll explain everything to C-Sec and if they need proof, we could show them our helmet recordings or allow an Asari to mind-meld with either myself, my Spartans or Murphy."

Shepard asked, "And Wenrum?" Wenrum explained, _"I will explain to them that I mean them no harm unless they have an intention to harm the Reclaimers."_

Walker asked Shepard, "And your clone?" Shepard replied, "Like you said, he'll stand trial." Cortez came up to the three along with the rest of the Spartans and Murphy, "The rest of the squad is waiting outside. We'll have the Normandy back in shape in no time." He looked at the UNSC group, "Plus we have to welcome you guys to the crew." The Shuttle bay door opened up revealing C-Sec officers and the rest of Shepard's crew as they were getting out of a C-Sec shuttle. The Officers had their Assault Rifles trained on the Spartans and the Promethean when a Turian Captain said,

"Stand down; these are the ones that we were told about!" The Captain approached the squad, "Commander Shepard, one of your teammates came to C-Sec and warn us about a hijacking of the Normandy. Ex-detective Garrus Vakarian told us that you and a squad of Super-Soldiers and a Combat AI construct took the Normandy." He looked at the Spartans and Promethean, "I take it that these are the soldiers and the AI?"

Walker asked aware of the AI paranoia, "You're not going to terminate Wenrum, are you?"

The Captain turned to the Spartan, although he had to look up, "That depends if it's hostile."

The Promethean approached, _"I will not appear as a hostile force, if I were to attack it will be if anyone shows aggression towards the Reclaimers."_

The Captain asked, "Reclaimers….as in the Super-Soldiers?" The Promethean gestured his gun arm to Murphy and spoke, _"Their marine is also a Reclaimer."_ The Captain finished, "Then I should report this to the Executor, he'll tell our officers to not fire on you….." Wenrum spoke, _"Wenrum. Named after Salarian romance tale."_ The Captain nodded and left but was stopped by Walker as escorting the captured Clone Shepard and said,

"Take this to the C-Sec holding cells and make sure he stands trial for what he did."

The Captain was shocked judging by his mandibles because he was seeing two Shepards; he took the Clone and said,

"We'll tag him and send him to a holding cell."

Walker looked as the Captain took the Clone into a C-Sec Shuttle as he watched as Shepard's crew exited the Normandy, Tali said,

"Worst Shore Leave ever."

Walker sighed about Shore Leave to a fact that he spent most of his life fighting the Covenant, developing 'Mdama Rage, getting a break from fighting after the war until he became a Spartan-IV. Now…..it was nice for a bunch of Spartans to get a well, deserved rest from fighting.

**A/N So…I can't believe I just made a backstory for Walker. His rage of Vengeance was all because of Jul'Mdama, the Leader of the Covenant Remnant. He was working to try and take him down…..he lost himself to rage and believed that anyone he's fighting is Jul'Mdama.**

**Ah, what the heck. But now the Spartans can now explore the Silversun Strip for a while until Shepard plans a party…..as well as welcome the Spartans, Murphy and Wenrum to the Normandy.**

**But what will happen when the Spartans enter the Armax Arsenal Arena and decide to switch it to what they are used to in Infinity Simulator? Tune in next time. **


End file.
